DOWNY WOODPECKER. 99 



XXVII. 



DOWNY WOODPECKER. 



THE downy looks so much like the hairy that it 

 would be easy to confound them if it were not for 

 the difference in size. The downy is fully two 

 inches shorter than the hairy. As you see him 

 on a tree at a distance, the white stripe on his 

 back is bounded by black, or as Thoreau expresses 

 it, " his cassock is open behind, showing his white 

 robe." Above this stripe is a large check of black 

 and white, and below on a line with the tips of 

 his wings seems to be a fine black and white 

 check, while, if he is an adult male, a scarlet 

 patch on the back of his head sets off his black 

 and white dress. 



Seen only a rod away, as I see him through the 

 window in winter, clinging to a tree, and picking 

 at the suet hung out for him, the white central 

 stripe of his back is marked off above by a black 

 line which goes across to meet the black of his 

 shoulders. From the middle of this and at right 

 angle to it, another black line goes straight up 

 towards his head, so carrying on the line of the 

 white stripe, and forming the dividing line of the 

 two white blocks. This, again, meets the point 

 of a black V, so broad as to be almost a straight 

 line. On this V lies the red patch of the back 

 of his head. Over his eye is a white line that ex- 



