TWELVE WINTER BIBDS. 265 



its taste for he uttered for the first time his usual call, 

 "plick-plick" and then began once more his active 

 search, pecking, pecking, hammering on his upward 

 course. 



In this way his daily life is spent from November 

 to March, often enduring ice, frost, snow, sleet, rain 

 .and hail, but cheerfully meeting them all undaunted. 

 When the warm April sunshine enlivens the woods, 

 and insect food can be had for the asking, he seeks 

 for himself a mate, and together they excavate a nest 

 in the terminal limb of a lofty beech or in the top of 

 some tall oak snag. Here the eggs, five or six in 

 number, are deposited. They are pure crystal white 

 with an ivory texture and are .85x.65 of an inch in 

 size. 



III. 



The " downy woodpecker," Dryobaies pubescens (L.), 



appears to be much more plentiful than the "hairy," 



but this is doubtless due to his sociable qualities as 



he seems to seek, rather than shun, the society of 



man. One does not so commonly find 



Wood ^cker ^" n ^ n c ^ ce P woodlands as in the 

 orchards and the borders of woods 

 near farm houses. Often, especially in the spring- 

 time, they are seen along roadsides, clinging to the 

 upright stakes of the old worm fences, watching the 

 plodding ploughman at his toil and scolding mildly 

 if he comes too near. When the blasts blow cold, 

 and the soggy limb of the forest tree is frozen hard, 

 one may sometimes see a downy on the dead limb of a 



