DOWNY WOODPECKER (Dryobates 



pubescens) 



Length, 6 inches. Our smallest woodpecker ; 

 spotted with black and white. Dark bars on 

 the outer tail feathers distinguish it from the 

 similarly colored but larger hairy woodpecker. 



Range : Resident in the United States and 

 the forested parts of Canada and Alaska. 



Habits and economic status ; This wood- 

 pecker is commonly distributed, living in wood- 

 land tracts, orchards, and gardens. The bird 

 has several characteristic notes, and, like the 

 hairy woodpecker, is fond of beating on a dry 

 resonant tree branch a tattoo which to appreci- 

 ative ears has the quality of woodland music. 

 In a hole excavated in a dead branch the 

 downy woodpecker lays four to si.x eggs. This 

 and the hairy woodpecker are among our most 

 valuable allies, their food consisting of some 

 of the worst foes of orchard and woodland, 

 which the woodpeckers are especially equipped 

 to dig out of dead and living wood. In the 

 examination of 723 stomachs of this bird, ani- 

 mal food, mostly insects, was found to consti- 

 tute 76 per cent of the diet and vegetable mat- 

 ter 24 per cent. The animal food consists 

 largely of beetles that bore into timber or bur- 

 row under the bark. Caterpillars amount to 

 16 per cent of the food and include many espe- 

 cially harmful species. 



YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (Coccyzus 

 americanus) 



Length, about 12 inches. The yellow lower 

 part of the bill distinguishes this bird from its 

 near relative, the black-billed cuckoo. 



Range : Breeds generally in the United States 

 and southern Canada; winters in South Amer- 

 ica. 



Habits and economic status : This bird lives 

 on the edges of woodland, in groves, orchards, 

 parks, and even in shaded village streets. It 

 is sometimes known as rain crow, because its 

 very characteristic notes are supposed to fore- 

 tell rain. The cuckoo has sly, furtive ways as 

 it moves among the bushes or flits from tree 

 to tree, and is much more often seen than 

 heard. Unlike its European relative, it does 

 not lay its eggs in other birds' nests, but builds 

 a nest of its own. This is, however, a rather 

 crude and shabby affair — hardly more than a 

 platform of twigs sufficient to hold the greenish 

 eggs. The cuckoo is extremely useful because 

 of its insectivorous habits, especially as it 

 shows a marked preference for the hairy cater- 

 pillars, which few birds eat. One stomach that 

 was examined contained 250 American tent 

 caterpillars; another, 217 fall webworms. In 

 places where tent caterpillars are abundant 

 they seem to constitute a large portion of the 

 food of this and the black-billed cuckoo. 



A TWO-STORY BIRD NEST 



The nests of giant tropical 

 orioles, or caciques, in Mexico 

 are pendant structures 3 and 4 

 feet in length. They are usu- 

 ally built out on the very tips 

 of slender branches, so that 

 they are protected from the 

 attacks of arboreal beasts of 

 prey. Often, as in the above 

 photograph, there is a little 

 suiisidiary chamber at the sum- 

 mit, which is used by the male 

 bird as a roosting jilace when 

 his mate is sitting on the eggs 

 below. 



'!» 



I'licitogiai h !)> l>r. C. \\ ilU.ini llcclic 



63 



