THE DOWNY WOODPECKER 



Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound, 



Save a Wood-drummer tapping on a hollow beech tree. 



HIS little Woodpecker is the 

 smallest of all those inhabit- 

 ing the United States. In 

 the shade trees about houses 

 and parks, and especially in orchards, 

 he may be frequenty seen tapping or 

 scratching on the limb of a tree with- 

 in two or three yards' distance, where 

 he has discovered a decayed spot 

 inhabited by wood-boring larvae or a 

 colony of ants, his food consisting of 

 ants, beetles, bugs, flies, caterpillars, 

 spiders, and grasshoppers. The late 

 Dr. Glover of the Department of 

 Agriculture, states that on one occasion 

 a Downy Woodpecker was observed 

 by him making a number of small, 

 rough-edged perforations in the bark of a 

 young ash tree, and upon examination 

 of the tree when the bird had flown, it 

 was found that wherever the bark had 

 been injured, the young larvae of a 

 wood-eating beetle had been snugly 

 coiled underneath and had been 

 destroyed by the bird. Beechnuts also 

 constitute a considerable portion of the 

 food of this bird. Dr. Merriam says 

 that in northern New York they feed 

 extensively on this nut, particularly in 

 fall, winter, and early spring. 



This miniature Woodpecker is very 

 social in its habits, far more so than 

 other species, and is often found 

 associated with other birds, in the 

 woods, the orchards, along fence rows, 

 and not infrequently in the cities. He 

 is often seen in company with the 

 White-breasted Nuthatch (See Vol. II, 

 p. 1 1 8) and the Brown Creeper (Vol. 

 Ill, p. 214). 



Early in the spring the " Downies " 

 retire to the woods to make their nests, 

 preferring the vicinity of running 

 water. The nest is begun about the 



second or third week in May, and 

 consumes from two days to a week in 

 building. The holes are usually 

 excavated in dead willow, poplar, or 

 oak trees, and the height varies from 

 four to thirty feet, generally about 

 fifteen feet. The entrance to the nest 

 is about two inches in diameter, and 

 the depth of the nest hole varies from 

 eight to eighteen inches. The eggs 

 are four or five, rarely six, and are 

 pure glossy-white. 



We know of no more interesting 

 occupation than to observe this bird. 

 It is fond of drumming on the stub of 

 a dead limb whose center is hollow, 

 and whose shell is hard and resonant. 

 Upon such places it will drum for an 

 hour at a time, now and then stopping 

 to listen for a response from its mate 

 or of some rival. At all times it is 

 unsuspicious of man, and when 

 engaged in excavating the receptacle 

 for its nest it continues its busy chisel- 

 ing, unheeding his near approach. 



The Woopecker is wrongfully 

 accused of boring into the sound 

 timber, and, by letting in the water, 

 hastening its decay. As Dixon says : 

 " Alas ! poor harmless, unoffending 

 Woodpecker, I fear that by thy visits 

 to the trees thou art set down as the 

 cause of their premature decay. Full 

 well I know thy beak, strong as it is, 

 is totally incapable of boring into the 

 sound timber full well do I know 

 that, even if thou wert guilty of such 

 offense, nothing would reward thy 

 labors, for thy prey does not lurk under 

 the bark of a healthy tree. Insects 

 innumerable bore through its bark 

 and hasten its doom, and it is thy 

 duty in Nature's economy to check 

 them in their disastrous progress." 



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