WOODPECKERS. 115 



livercd so quickly that his head becomes a series of mazy 

 heads. 



Watcli tlie Downy Woodpecker, our commonest 

 species, while he is engaged in this surprising perform- 

 Downy Woodpecker, ^^^^^- How he seems to enjoy it ! His 

 Jjryobatts pubescens whole appearance is martial and deti- 

 vieduxnus. ant. It is his challenge to the Wood- 

 pecker world. After each roll he looks 

 proudly about him and perhaps utters his call-note, a 

 sharp 2)eekj peek, which suggests the sound produced by 

 a marble cutters chisel. More rarely this call is pro- 

 longed into a connected series, when one can readily 

 imagine that the quarrier has dropped his tool. 



The Downy is a hardy bird and is with us throughout 

 the year. In the winter he forms a partnership with the 

 Chickadee and Xuthatch, and if the good this trio does 

 could be expressed in figures, these neglected friends of 

 ours might receive some small part of the credit due 

 them. Wlio can estimate the enormous numbers of in- 

 sects' eggs and larvae which these patient explorers of 

 trunk and twig destroy ? 



The Downy, as well as some other Woodpeckers, be- 

 lieves in the comfort of a home. He will not j^ass cold, 

 wintry nights clinging to the leeward side of a tree when 

 by the use of his chisel-bill he can hollow a snug chamber 

 in its heart. So, in the fall, we may sometimes find him 

 preparing his winter quarters. His nest is constructed 

 in the same manner, and his eggs, like those of all AVood- 

 peckers, are glossy white. 



The Hairy Woodpecker, the Downy's big cousin, is 



not quite so common as his smaller 



Hairy Woodpecker, ^.^i^tive. The two birds are neariy alike 



in color, and differ only in the mark- 



iners of the outer tail-feathers. Jn the Downy these are 



white, barred with black ; in the Hairy, white without 



