OUR WINTER BIRDS. 31 



principal food mice and insects, and it is therefore a very use- 

 ful bird. I believe it breeds here, although I have never found 

 a nest, but it seems to be here all the year round. 



Among the Picidae, or woodpeckers, we have the log cock or 

 milit.;ry woodpecker (Hylotomus pUeatus), the black backed wood- 

 pecker (Ficoides Arcticu(;),th.e banded back woodpecker {P.Ameri- 

 canus), the hairy woodpecker {Picus villosus)^ and the downy {P. 

 puhcscens). 



The log cock is an artist in his way. With his strong bill 

 and muscular neck and body he deals such powerful blows that 

 he can be heard long before he is seen, and it seems to me that I 

 walked hal'f a mile on one occasion after hearing one before I 

 saw him. I found him slicing oft" bark as you would take it off 

 with a drawshave. He would pound, then listen, then pound 

 again, then listen, and many a time I have wished for his skill 

 and acuteness in ansculation and percussion in a doubtful chest 

 affection. One can understand how he operates when all insect 

 life is in vigorous activity, but in winter when it is dornuuit or 

 inactive, how is it ? Is he clairvoyant ? To be sure he is not 

 entirely dependent upon insects for food, for he does not disdain 

 berries, fruit, beech nuts, and even, they say, acorns. 



The black-backed woodpecker has the peculiarity of having 

 only three toes. It is rather rare here, or else it retreats into the 

 dense forest, remote from human habitations, and is therefore 

 less often seen than the hairy and downy woodpeckers. Its food 

 consists of wood worms, and larvse and eggs of insects, dug from 

 crevices in the bark of small sized trees. It nests here, and 

 generally for that purpose selects an easily worked, soft- wooded 

 tree, such as poplar, leaning over if possible, and it drills for 

 its nest on the under side, making the entrance just large en- 

 ough to admit its body, but enlarging afterw\ards, and going 

 down ten or twelve inches, lining its nest with fine chips, and 

 laying from three to five white eggs. 



The banded backed woodpecker is even rarer here than the 

 last mentioned and slightly smaller. It is also a three-toed 

 variety. It is an arctic species, comes here in November, and 

 leaves in early spring generally, although it has been found 

 nesting in this Province. Its food seems to be about the same 

 as the black back. 



