THE DOWNY WOODPECKER 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 Educational Leaflet No. 55 



DOWNY AT DINNFR 

 Photographed by Carl E. Purple 



A cheery little neighbor of 

 mine lives near me, among the trees 

 of a grove, whom I should like to 

 have all my friends meet. He is a 

 little Downy Woodpecker. White 

 spots are scattered over his black 

 wings, and there is just a stripe 

 of red across the top of his black 

 cap. I am sure you would know 

 him by his small size, his colors, 

 and his trustful manner. He is not 

 at all suspicious, and when he is 

 hard at work will usually allow 

 one to approach quite close to him. 

 If you will tie a piece of suet to the 

 limb of a tree, as Mr. Purple had 

 done before he made the photograph 

 shown on this page, Downy \\ill 

 come to see you day after day, 

 especially in winter, when he is exceedingly glad of your bounty. 



He is a quiet, modest, little creature who never does anyone harm, 

 and so far as known has few enemies, the most alarming one being 

 the snake that robs his nest. 



Downy is the smallest as well as the most active of our woodpeckers, 

 and appears to be always busy. Often we may see him climbing up the 

 huge trunk of some old oak-tree, pausing a second here and there to rap 

 on the bark with his bill to learn whether the wood is solid. Again 

 he will pause as the peculiar sound given back from 

 his tap indicates that an insect is lurking within. Then Sounding 



the resounding blows of his little pickaxe fall thick the Trees 



and fast, sending the chips in every direction. 



In vain does the larva feasting on the sap of the tree retreat into 

 its hole. A gleam of daylight shoots into the burrow, and an instant 

 later the spear-like tongue of the Woodpecker has impaled its victim and 

 jerked it forth. Then on up the tree Downy goes, perhaps without 

 further incident until well among the limbs, when suddenly he flies to 

 a neighboring tree, dropping as he does so to a point near its base, and 

 begins to ascend this trunk as he did the one before. 



