NORTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER 65 



bill — ^no longer than its head. The hairy's bill is longer even in 

 proportion to the size of the bird. 



Enemies. — Lewis O. Shelley, who as a bird bander has handled 

 many downy woodpeckers, says in his notes: "I find this species 

 practically free from parasites, but I have found among the feathers 

 the two bird flies, Ornithoica conftuenta and Ornithomyia 

 anchineuria.^^ 



Alexander Wilson (1832) shows that the house wren, although 

 not an open enemy of the downy, causes it a good deal of annoyance 

 by stealing its nest sometimes. He says : 



The house wren, who also builds in the hollow of a tree, but who is neither 

 furnished with the necessary tools nor strength for excavating such an apart- 

 ment for himself, allows the woodpeckers to go on, till he thinks it will 

 answer his purpose, then attacks them with violence, and generally succeeds 

 in driving them off. I saw some weeks ago a striking example of this, where 

 the woodpeckers we are now describing, after commencing in a cherry-tree 

 within a few yards of the house, and having made considerable progress, were 

 turned out by the wren ; the former began again on a pear-tree in the garden, 

 fifteen or twenty yards off, whence, after digging out a most complete apart- 

 ment, and one egg being laid, they were once more assaulted by the same 

 impertinent intruder, and finally forced to abandon the place. 



Maurice Thomi)Son (1885) describes thus the bird's defense 

 against the attack of a goshawk : 



I once saw a goshawk pursuing a downy woodpecker, when the latter darted 

 through a tuft of foliage and flattened itself close upon the body of a thick oak 

 bough, where it remained as motionless as the bark itself. The hawk alighted 

 on the same bough within two feet of its intended victim, and remained sitting 

 there for some minutes, evidently looking in vain for it, with nothing but thin 

 air between monster and morsel. The woodpecker was stretched longitudinally 

 on the bough, its tail and beak close to the bark, its black and white speckled 

 feathers looking like a continuation of the wrinkles and lichen. 



More commonly, when attacked by a hawk, the downy dodges 

 behind a branch and, if the hawk catch sight of it again, either winds 

 round the branch or dives behind another one. By this adroit 

 defense the downy has a fair chance of eluding the hawk's attack. 



Fall and winter. — ^We see little change in the behavior of the 

 downy woodpecker at the approach of autumn, at the time when 

 many of the migratory birds are beginning to show a daily increas- 

 ing restlessness, seeming on tiptoe to start on their long journey, 

 moving about actively in their new feathers, and breaking out some- 

 times with a phrase of postnuptial song. In the role of permanent 

 resident, the downy remains calm in the midst of the bustle of 

 travel; it may join the hurrying groups for a time, or become sur- 

 rounded by them, but it does not catch the contagion of departure, 

 and soon drops behind to continue its local round. 



