SOUTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER 47 



Perhaps a downy woodpecker does not really work any harder or faster for 

 its food than any other bird, but somehow it seems that it does. I found one 

 once on an inclined limb of a catalpa near the Highland Pines Inn and watched 

 it work up ten feet in thirteen minutes. During that time downy's blows fell 

 good and hard at the average of a hundred strokes each minute except for a 

 dozen momentary stops when a big bird flew over, or the downy scratched its 

 head. It was feeding on small white grubs which it secured at an average rate 

 of four per minute. * * * 



These woodpeckers have the habit in the Sandhills of digging holes in which 

 to sleep. One found a suitable place in the end of a dead limb of a large gum 

 standing in a flooded swamp near Mid Pines Club. This limb had been broken 

 and left a stub sticking out about five feet long at right angles to the trunk 

 of the gum and about forty feet above the ground. It was about five inches in 

 diameter where the woodpecker began work on it. Work was started on the 

 under side of the limb about nine inches from the outer end on February 11, 

 1927, and the bird dug at it for forty-five minutes to such good purpose that 

 the hole would then admit all its bill and half its head. As it worked it clung 

 head down under the limb. Then it left its work to go foraging but came back 

 in thirty minutes to resume work. During the next three days this woodpecker 

 must have worked steadily for it then had a hole into which it could com- 

 pletely disappear. But the hole was not large enough nor deep enough, and 

 the bird was still at work, continually popping in and out (backward) of its 

 hole; usually when it backed out it carried a bill full of chips and shavings 

 that it threw over its shoulder. As it did so, it glanced once or twice to either 

 side as if to assure itself that all was well. Then back into the hole for 

 another period of steady hammering. Apparently this woodpecker worked 

 thus from thirty minutes to an hour after each half hour's foraging trip. Two 

 more days of work completed the sleeping quarters in a snug cozy retreat. 

 When finished, the hole was six inches deep, and the limb around it was a 

 mere shell. The opening being beneath the limb, it was sheltered from storms, 

 and from any water running into it. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — North America; nonmigratory. 



The range of the downy woodpecker is north to Alaska (Eussian 

 Mission, Tanana, and Fort Egbert) ; southwestern Mackenzie (Fort 

 Simpson and Fort Providence) ; northern Alberta (Fort McMurray) ; 

 central Saskatchewan (Big Eiver and Prince Albert) ; southern Man- 

 itoba (Lake St. Martin, Shoal Lake, and Indian Bay) ; Ontario (Lac 

 Seul, Gargantua, and Sudbury) ; Quebec (Lake Mistassini, Godbout, 

 and Natashguan River) ; and Newfoundland (Nicholsville and prob- 

 ably St. Johns) . The eastern limit of the range extends south along 

 the Atlantic coast from this point to southern Florida (Miami, Eoyal 

 Palm Hammock, and Flamingo). From this southeastern point the 

 species is found westward along the Gulf coast to Mississippi (Biloxi) 

 and Louisiana (New Orleans), thence in the interior to south-central 

 Texas (Giddings and Pecos) ; southern New Mexico (Mayhill, Cloud- 

 croft, and Silver City) ; Arizona (San Francisco Mountain and Fort 

 Valley) ; and southern California (Escondido). The western limits 



