344 THE HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



WE naturally associate our resident Woodpeckers with winter weather, 

 partly because the removal of the foliage causes them to stand out in bold 

 relief, and partly because the unfailing character of their food-supply makes 

 them in a measure free from the depression of spirits usually incident to the 

 season. The Hairy Woodpecker, especially, is often in high spirits when the 

 air is frosty. He has spent the night deep in the heart of some forest tree, 

 at the end of his winter tunnel, and now he crosses a half-wooded pasture 

 with great bounds of flight, shouting, plick, plick, from time to time ; and he 

 gives a loud rolling call a dozen of these notes in swift succession as he 

 pulls up in the top of a dead tree to begin the day's work. 



In the search for hidden worms and burrowing larvae, it seems not 

 improbable that the Woodpecker depends largely upon the sense of hearing 

 that he practices auscultation, in fact. A meditative tap, tap, is followed 

 by a pause, during which the bird apparently marks the effect of his strokes, 

 noting the rustle of apprehension or attempted escape on the part of the hid- 

 den morsel. It is not unusual for the bird to spend a half hour in tunneling 

 for a single taste, and even then the wary game may withdraw along some 

 tunnel of its own even beyond the reach of the bird's extensible tongue. But 

 beside that which must be secured from the bowels of the wood, there is much 

 1o be gleaned from the surface and in the crannies of the bark. The winter 

 fare is supplemented also by cornel berries and the fruit of certain hardy 

 vines. 



The Hairy Woodpecker visits the winter troupes only in a patronizing 

 sort of 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 nests of this bird are usually situated well up in the forest trees. 

 Beech trees are likely to be dead at the top, even when they interpose a 

 thrifty screen of foliage below, and afford, therefore, an ideal situation. The 

 bird, however, sometimes ventures into town and takes up quarters in a shade 

 tree, or in the orchard, or even in a fence-post. Incubation is attended to in 

 May and but one brood is raised in a season. These Woodpeckers are ex- 

 ceptionally 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. 



