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The Lady William Cecil :



a black crown, and the back of his neck is black; his breast white,

with black spots on the sides; black and white barred and spotted

wings and tail; his only scrap of bright colour is a vividly scarlet

line above each eye like a vermilion eyebrow.


We first made the acquaintance of the White-headed Wood¬

pecker (Picus albolarvatus) in the far West, in Oregon, and

Washington State, and towards Montana eastward. He lives, too,

in the forests that clothe the Californian Mountains, and we met

him again in the Merced Yalley. He is an easily identified bird,

being nearly black with the exception of a white patch on the wings,

and a completely white head. But he has his bit of colour, too, in

a bright red band round the nape of the neck. This is wanting

in the female bird, whose “ frosty pow ” is white all over. This

Woodpecker measures about 9 in. in length.


The Hairy Woodpecker (Picus villosus ) is about the same

size as the last. He is a delightful person, often to be seen in the

woods of Southern Canada and the Eastern States. He is another

of the black and white birds, fairly evenly marked. He has a

black head, with a stripe all down it of rather long silky feathers

(like those of the Downy Woodpecker); a black tail with white

outer feathers, and black and white spotted wings; across the

back of the neck there is a clear red band. Madame “ Hairy

Woodpecker” has no red band, and her plumage is altogether

more dull and rusty. The young birds of this species have

reddish-brown heads.


It is very amusing to watch a Hairy Woodpecker hunting

for insects on the trunk of a tree, carefully working his way up,

going round and round, till there is scarcely an inch that has not

come under the scrutiny of his sharp eyes or been tested by his

sharp bill and long tongue. Woodpeckers almost always work

upwards and spirally, they do not descend a tree head-downwards

as Tree-Creepers do.


I have watched a Hairy Woodpecker tap-tapping most

carefully and perseveringly for an hour or more, only pausing to

gobble up the insect or worm that he has scared from its “ hidey-

hole ” by his persistent hammering. In the spring and early summer

throughout the breeding season the Hairy Woodpeckers may always



