Downy Woodpecker. 249 



of the Virginia creeper, poison ivy, and other plants 

 of the woods. Later he sups with the -sparrows among 

 the sumachs and ironweeds, and in mid-winter he gleans 

 the crumbs and fragments found near the kitchen door. 

 In fact, he neglects no opportunity to add a nice tid-bit to 

 his ordinary fare, whether he finds it among the lower 

 branches of a tree, on the trunk, among the bushes and 

 weedtops, or on the ground. He is said to be instru- 

 mental in scattering the seeds of the poison ivy, with the 

 bluebird, flicker, crow, and other species; but any harm 

 he thus does unconsciously can be overlooked when we 

 reflect that he is only slightly increasing his own food 

 supply, and hence perhaps increasing the abundance 

 of his species in the future. Investigations of the food 

 of the common woodpeckers have placed our little friend 

 at the head of the list for beneficial qualities, and were he 

 not so unjustly and absurdly styled a "sap-sucker," his 

 reputation would be without a blemish; but tradition 

 should no longer mar the reputation of one who is worthy. 

 Intelligent observation is rapidly clearing the names of 

 our friends from every unjust imputation, and in future 

 their true characters should be subjects of common knowl- 

 edge. 



