A QUAKTET OF WOODLAND DRUMMERS 195 



party. The bird which does this is another kind of wood- 

 pecker. The small holes which our little friend makes in 

 trees do not even reach the inner bark, except when he is 

 bent on securing some harmful intruder. 



Like the most of our woodpeckers, Downy is a resident 

 throughout the year wherever found, and seems to enjoy 

 equally all seasons. When you find him in your orchard 

 on a bright, cold morning in January, he has the same 

 busy, contented air which you must have noticed when 

 first making his acquaintance, perhaps on some warm 

 spring day. He appears so happy and buoyant at all times 

 that one wonders if he does not have hid away under his 

 little white waistcoat a perpetual fountain of the ecstasy 

 of springtime and youth. 



He likes cheerful company, especially in the winter, 

 when most of the. forest voices are silent and the cold winds 

 are howling around the trunks of the 

 sleeping forest trees. 



He then hunts up his friends, the little 

 gray tufted titmouse and the light 

 hearted chickadee. Together they spend 

 much time in bands, patrolling the wood- 

 land, searching out from their hiding places the eggs of 

 insects stowed away under the bark waiting for the warm 



