322 ' LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



mon little spotted or Downy Woodpecker. Audubon has repre- 

 sented these birds in no less than six assumed species, so great 

 is the variation in size, and in the colors of the young. He 

 even undertook to point out differences in manner and voice, 

 between those of New Hampshire and those of Maine. Here 

 his imagination almost undoubtedly led him astray, so easy is 

 it for man to deceive himself by seeing, as he thinks, what he 

 is determined to see. 



(d). The Hairy Woodpeckers have both a loud, shrill cry, 

 not unlike that of the "Flicker," and a sharp chuck, which re- 

 sembles the characteristic note of the next species. Both of 

 these notes, however, are somewhat peculiar, and need not 

 often be confused with those of other species. 



(B) PUBESCENS. Downy Woodpecker. 



(A common summer-resident throughout New England, but 

 less abundant in winter.) 



(a). About 6 inches long. Outer tail-feathers barred with 

 black. Otherwise like P. villosus (A). 



(b). The nest is built in various trees, among which the 

 apple-trees, birches, and poplars, are frequently selected. It 

 has occasionally been found in a post. The entrance is two 

 inches or less in diameter, whereas that of the "Flicker's" 

 nest is usually from two to five inches high. The eggs, of 

 which four or five are usually laid near Boston in the fourth 

 week of May, measure -80 X '60 of an ineh, or less. 



(c). The Downy Woodpeckers, like Uieir near relations the 

 Hairy Woodpeckers, are resident throughout the wooded por- 

 tions of eastern North America, in many places being common 

 and well-known, as is the case in Massachusetts, where, how- 

 ever, they are less numerous in winter. In autumn they may 

 be seen followed by titmice, creepers, nuthatches, and "wrens," 

 whose society they seem to enjoy, though not themselves gre- 

 garious. They are not only sociable, but are very familiar 

 towards man, showing no alarm at his approach, and preferring 

 orchards, roadsides, and woods about houses or barns, to the 

 forests,. for which many of their relations have a marked fond- 



