THE BIRDS OF WAYNE COUNTY. 287 



males ; and this ratio seems to be fairly constant so far as observation of living birds can 

 determine. The favorite haunts of this species are, in fall and winter, the woods of the 

 bottom-lands, but where such places are not available it frequents fully as numerously 

 the upland forests; being of regular occurrence throughout the County. It is not 

 uncommonly found along fencerows in the open country, in thickets, or even or- 

 chards, but is scarcely ever to be seen in the towns, except during the late fall and 

 winter months. Both this and the following species have at times been noticed to 

 repeatedly perch on limbs crosswise, after the manner of Sparrows or other passerine 

 birds. 



The Hairy Woodpecker breeds generally in the most secluded portions of the 

 forests. ' A nest found May 3. 1891, in moist woodland along Killbuck Creek, was in 

 the solid living wood of a swamp hickory, (HicA oria minima}. It contained young 

 -about two-thirds fledged. 



DOWNY WOODPECKKR, NATURAL SIZE. 



77. Dryobates pubescens (LINN.). 

 Downy Woodpecker; " Sapsucker." 



An abundant resident, though apparently less common in spring and summer 

 than at other seasons. It occurs everywhere, but seems to affect most numerously, 

 especially in winter, the woods of the bottom-lands. At that season it is frequently 

 found associated with the following species : Certhia familiaris americana, Sitta 

 carolinensis, Parus bicolor, Parus atricapillus, Regulus satrapa, and Dryobates 

 villosus. 



Like the last species, the Downy Woodpecker is not often seen in the towns, ex- 

 cept during the fall and winter months. It breeds usually in May, exhibiting as to 

 locality a decided preference for the woods' on the bottoms, where such lands exist, 

 although it sometimes nests in orchards. 



Most authors mention the complement of eggs deposited by the Downy Wood- 

 pecker as from four to six ; of a larger number the only record that the present writer 

 has been able to discover being by Worthington, 1 who secured one set of seven eggs. 

 A set also of seven was collected by the writer near Wooster, May 22, 1891. The nest 

 was situated in a tract of woods on the swampy lowlands along Killbuck' Creek. It 

 was excavated twenty-four feet from the ground in the outer (or under) side of the 

 remaining stub of a dead limb. It was much narrowed towards the bottom, 



1 Ornithologist and Oologist VI, 1881, p. 43. 



4 B. W. C. 



