In the Woods. 181 



North Carolina and Indian Territory south to Eastern Texas and through 

 the Gulf States. It is a bird of the pine forests, though found at times 

 Red-cockaded m otner kinds of woods. One of the smaller woodpeckers, 

 Woodpecker. ^ ' ls about eight inches long. The male is clear black 

 Dryobates boreaiis (vieiii.). O n the top of the head, with a small and partly concealed 

 scarlet tuft of feathers on each side of the head above and back of the ear. 

 The region about the ear and on the sides of head is white, reminding one of 

 the similar markings of the Chickadee. This is separated from the throat by 

 a black line reaching from the bill to the shoulders. The back is barred with 

 black and white, and the wings are black spotted with white. The middle 

 tail feathers are black and the outer ones black and white. The under parts 

 are white streaked on the sides, flanks, and on the feathers below the tail 

 with dusky black. The female lacks the scarlet tufts on the head. 



The hole for the nest is generally excavated high up in a pine in some 

 dead limb or branch. 



The eggs are white, generally four in number, and about nine tenths 

 of an inch long, and nearly seven tenths of an inch in their smaller 

 diameter. 



The Hairy is an exaggerated Downy Woodpecker, half as large again 



as that bird, being about nine inches long. The colors and pattern are prac- 



Hairv Wood- tically tne same, and sometimes a Downy Woodpecker 



pecker. deceives one for a moment when his ruffled feathers add 



Dryobates villosus (Linn.). Q J^jg size 



But the Hairy Woodpecker is eminently a woodland bird, and where 

 much timber has been cut off becomes noticeably rare, whereas his smaller 

 reflection seems really more at home in the trees about the houses than in 

 the forest. 



The Hairy Woodpecker breeds generally in a dead tree, laying four or 

 five white eggs rather more than nine tenths of an inch long, and about seven 

 tenths of an inch in their other diameter. These birds are found in the 

 Eastern United States, from their northern border south to the Carolinas, 

 and breed throughout their range. 



From the Carolinas south the Hairy Woodpecker is represented by a 

 closely allied geographical race. This Southern Hairy Woodpecker is 



