KNIGHTS OF THE CHISEL 



specimen in winter, and the other of a pair actually 

 breeding. 



There is always a bare possibility in winter of running 

 across one of the rare northern woodpeckers charac- 

 terized by having but three toes on each foot. Of these 

 there are two kinds, the Arctic Three-toed and the 

 American Three-toed Woodpeckers. Though I never 

 have had the luck to meet one alive, I look carefully at 

 every woodpecker I see in winter, hoping that it may 

 prove to be one of these. A very few have been recorded 

 south of the northern tier of States, and some fine day 

 Ned or I may be among the fortunate discoverers. 



We began this chapter with a common woodpecker, 

 so we will end it by telling of two familiar birds v/hich 

 are so much alike that many people see no difference 

 between them — the Hairy and the Downy Woodpeckers. 

 These are the black and white spotted ones, so often 

 seen about our homes, especially in the winter, when 

 hunger and cold drive them to us for succor. They 

 are almost exactly alike in plumage, but the Hairy 

 Woodpecker is much the larger, having about double 

 the weight of the little Downy. But why this one 

 should have been called *'Hairy" instead of the other is 

 too much of a sticker for me. Both kinds have hairy 

 bristles protecting the base of the bill. The larger one 

 may have been named first, and so the little fellow had 

 to take any old name they could fix up. Surely it is no 

 more downy in plumage than any other small bird. 

 But this is just as reasonable as many other names — of 



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