596 ' The Roller-like Birds 



is a smaller southern form (D. v. audubonii) with less white in the plumage, a 

 very large northern form (D. v. leucomelas) which reaches a length of ten or 

 eleven inches, and a large western race (D. v. harrisii) in which the wings are 

 mostly without white spots and the lower parts smoky gray or brownish instead 

 of white. 



Downy Woodpeckers. The Downy Woodpecker (D. pubescens) is almost 

 an exact copy in miniature of the Hairy, the only difference except size being 

 the barred instead of the plain white outer tail-feathers; the length is between 

 seven and eight inches. A resident where found, the Downy is a much more 

 abundant and familiar bird than its larger relative, coming fearlessly to the 

 orchard and shade trees about houses, where its cheery tap and peck is heard with 

 the accompaniment of Warblers and Vireos in summer, and Chickadees and 

 Nuthatches in winter. Its favorite resorts are open woodlands and orchards, 

 and here it may be seen industriously searching for insects, now and then deliver- 

 ing a few sharp blows to dislodge some promising piece of bark. Its nest-holes, 

 often in an old orchard or woodland tree, are models of Woodpecker architecture 

 and contain from four to six eggs. The Downy Woodpecker has recently been 

 divided into several geographical races, among them a smaller southern form 

 (D. p. meridionalis), a large Alaskan form (D. p. nelsoni\ and a less spotted 

 western race known as Gairdner's Woodpecker (D. p. gairdnerii). 



Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. The members of the final and largest group 

 of species have the back and rump barred with white. Within this group falls 

 the common Barred or Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (D. minor) of Europe and 

 thence to Japan. It is a small species only five and a half inches long, and is 

 not a very conspicuous element in the bird life, even where tolerably common, on 

 account of its retiring habits. It affects groves of deciduous trees as well as 

 orchards and is active and restless, seeking its food of insects assiduously. In 

 North America there are a number of forms belonging to this group, though they 

 do not at all belong to the same section as D. minor, what little resemblance 

 there may be being purely superficial, among them the Ladder-back Woodpecker 

 (D. scalaris), so named from the numerous bars across the back, and Nuttall's 

 Woodpecker (D. nuttallii} of California, but their habits are hardly worthy of 

 more extended notice. 



Three-toed Woodpeckers. Allied to the last, but distinguished at once by 

 having only three toes, and a yellow instead of a crimson patch on the crown, 

 are the Three- toed Woodpeckers ( Picoides), of which some ten forms are recog- 

 nized, all birds of Arctic or Alpine regions. Of the six North American forms 

 we may select the Arctic Three- toed Woodpecker (P. arcticus) for notice, this 

 being perhaps the best known. It is glossy blue-black above, relieved by the 

 bright yellow patch on the crown, and white below, the sides barred with black, 

 the wings spotted with white, and a line of white passing from the nostril below 

 the eye; it is nine and a half or ten inches long. It is an active, restless bird, 

 confined to the northern portions of the continent, mainly north of the United 

 States, its favorite haunts being the dense forests of spruce, fir, and tamarack, 

 and if a burnt tract of these trees is available, it may usually be found among 



