lee THE DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
must be secured from the bowels of the wood, there is much to be gleaned 
from the surface and in the crannies of the bark. The winter fare is also 
supplemented by cornel berries and the fruit of certain hardy shrubs. 
It isa fair question whether the Harris Woodpecker did not get his dingy 
breast thru long association with his grimy grub cupboards. The dead trees 
which he frequents, where not actually blackened by fire, are often stained 
by decaying fungic growths and clinging spores, so that the snowy shirt-front 
of the eastern Hairy Woodpecker would be small satisfaction to him here. Or 
if this grimy condition of tree-trunk be not the terminus a quo the smoky front 
of the Woodpecker started, it is certainly the terminus ad quem its color is 
accurately tending. And, of course, it is easy to see how these conditions are 
due exactly to the humidity which prevails on the Pacific Coast, and to a 
lesser degree thruout the Cascades. The dry dirt of the Rocky Mountain 
pines is by comparison clean dirt, and so Dryobates villosus is able to take 
some decent pride in his linen as he proceeds eastward. 
The Harris Woodpecker visits the winter troupes only in a patronizing way. 
He is far too restless and independent to be counted a constant member of any 
little gossip club, and, except briefly during the mating season and in the 
family circle, he is rarely to be seen in the company of his own kind. 
The nest of this bird is usually placed well up in a small dead fir tree in 
some burn or slashing on dry ground. It is about ten inches deep and has no 
lining save fine chips, among which the crystal white eggs, four or five in 
number, lie partially imbedded. Incubation is begun from the last week in 
April to the last week in May, according to altitude, and but one brood 1s 
raised ina season. ‘These Woodpeckers are exceptionally valiant in defense of 
their young, the male in particular becoming almost beside himself with rage 
at the appearance of an enemy near the home nest. 
No. 165. 
DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
A. O. U. No. 394¢. Dryobates pubescens medianus (Swains.). 
Description.—Similar to D. v. monticola, but much smaller; wing-coverts 
heavily spotted with white—a round blotch on tip of each feather; wing-quills 
and primary-coverts heavily spotted with white on both webs, the blotches on 
outer webs forming bars on the closed wing; tertials barred and tipped with white; 
the outer tail-feathers barred with black; underparts white or slightly soiled. 
Length of adult 6.25-7.00 (158.8-177.8); wing 3.75 (95.3); tail 2.60 (66.1); 
bill .66 (16.8). 
Recognition Marks.—Sparrow size; black-and-white color pattern with 
