TWELVE WINTER BIRDS, 267 



merits of decayed wood he had broken loose. _ Glanc- 

 ing hurriedly about on all sides, he would again dodge 

 in for a new series of blows. His feet remained in 

 one place, but when at work his body was all motion ; 

 his tail, as he pecked, bobbing up and down against 

 the wood, two or three inches below the opening of 

 the hole. Thus he worked for twenty-eight minutes, 

 when a slight movement of mine frightened him and 

 he was up and away. The bottom of the cavity was 

 five inches below the opening. Small feathers were 

 found in it on several occasions during the following 

 winter, showing that it was used as a resting place, 

 probably at night. 



To the farmer and fruit raiser the downy wood- 

 pecker is very valuable as an enemy of caterpillars. 

 It preys upon these insects in all stages. It drags the 

 butterflies and moths from their hiding places ; licks 

 up by the score their deposited eggs ; feasts for days 

 in early summer upon the caterpillars themselves, and 

 in autumn and winter bores neat round holes into the 

 sides of the leathery cocoons and extracts the contents 

 thereof. It is only when insect food becomes very 

 scarce that it deigns to feed upon such dry forms of 

 nutriment as grain, seeds of grasses and the softer 

 nuts. From an*examination of 140 of the stomachs 

 of this bird it was found that 74 per cent, of the food 

 was of animal origin. 



The "downy" is sociable, not only with mankind, 

 but also with his feathered kin in general. Especially 

 in winter, does one often find him the leader or guide 

 of a little coterie of chickadees, kinglets, nuthatches, 

 and titmice ramblers all, who go roaming in com- 



