THEIR HABITS AM) PECULIARITIES 13 



Although the woodpeckers an- not counted as birds of 

 song, to me the loud, joyous cry of the nicker, the downy and 

 the red-head, ringing through the leafy forest aisles, is genu- 

 ine music. One species cries "Cheer-\rp\ Cheer-vpl" and it 

 cheers-up and thrills me to hear it. Even in summer, when 

 other birds are plentiful, it is a welcome sound. In bleak 

 winter, when the great bulk of bird-life has vanished south- 

 ward, and you toilsomely tread the silent forest, ankle-deep 

 in snow, the world seems lifeless and drear — until you hear 

 the clarion greeting of the golden-winged woodpecker. It is 

 enough to stir the soul of a Digger Indian with a pleasing sense 

 of companionship in life. 



It is onlv the children of the cities who need to be told 

 that woodpeckers have two toes in front and two behind, to 

 enable them to cling to tree-bark; that the natural perch of 

 such a bird is the perpendicular trunk of a tree; that some- 

 times thev store acorns in holes which they dig in the sides of 

 decayed trees, not in order that worms in those acorns may 

 develop, but in order to eat the acorns themselves. They 

 nest high up in hollow tree-trunks, which they enter through 

 round holes of their own making. 1 



It is a good thing to feed wild birds of all species that are 

 either useful or beautiful. The woodpeckers are the largest 

 insectivorous birds thai remain in the North over winter, and 

 they appreciate friendly offerings of suel or t'al pork, nailed 



1 Those who arc specially interested in the habits <>f woodpeckers may profit- 

 ably consult a report on "The Food of Woodpeckers." by Professor F. E. I.. Beal, 

 published by the Department of Agriculture in 1895. The exact proportions of 

 the various kinds of food consumed by seven species have been determined by 

 examination of the stomachs of several hundred birds, and the figures quoted later 

 on are from that report. 



