144 SIGNS AND SEASONS 



dead limbs, and with such violence as to be heard 

 in still weather more than half a mile off; and lis- 

 tens to hear the insect it has alarmed." He listens 

 rather to hear the drum of his rival, or the brief and 

 coy response of the female; for there are no insects 

 in these dry limbs. 



On one occasion I saw downy at his drum when 

 a female flew quickly through the tree and alighted 

 a few yards beyond him. He paused instantly, 

 and kept his place apparently without moving a 

 muscle. The female, I took it, had answered his 

 advertisement. She flitted about from limb to limb 

 (the female may be known by the absence of the 

 crimson spot on the back of the head), apparently 

 full of business of her own, and now and then 

 would drum in a shy, tentative manner. The male 

 watched her a few moments, and, convinced per- 

 haps that she meant business, struck up his liveli- 

 est tune, then listened for her response. As it came 

 back timidly but promptly, he left his perch and 

 sought a nearer acquaintance with the prudent 

 female. Whether or not a match grew out of this 

 little flirtation I cannot say. 



The downy woodpeckers are sometimes accused 

 of injuring the apple and other fruit trees, but the 

 depredator is probably the larger and rarer yellow- 

 bellied species. One autumn I caught one of these 

 fellows in the act of sinking long rows of his little 

 wells in the limb of an apple-tree. There were 

 series of rings of them, one above another, quite 

 around the stem, some of them the third of an inch 



