92 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



surprised them as much as it did me and they had no time to conceal 

 themselves. The mother with all the known bird arts of deceit tried to 

 lead me away from the bunch of little ones who had all huddled down 

 where they were. When instead of doing this I stooped and picked up 

 one of the young, she bristled up her feathers until she was about twice 

 the normal size, and with utter disregard for her own safety, came at 

 me striking my hands with her wings. 



It has been claimed that a Woodcock in times of peril for her little 

 ones will take them one by one in her feet and fly to a place of safety. 

 Of course this may be true, but I shall doubt it until more positive 

 proof is offered, for no bird ever had a better opportunity to accomp- 

 lish this feat than was allowed this one, but she showed no inclination 

 to carry them off other than to lead them. 



DOWNY WOODPECKER. 



A. Q. U. No. 393- (Dryobates pubescens.) 



RANGE. 1 



Northern and eastern North America. West to the edge of the Plains 

 and British Columbia. South to the Gulf of Mexico. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length, about 6.5 in.; extent, 12 in.; tail, 2.75 in. Back, black with a 

 long white stripe down the middle, wings black, with numerous white 

 spots as in the illustration. Top of head, line from the eye back, and 

 from below the eye down the side of neck, black. Breast, chin, throat, 

 line under the eye and down side of neck, and one over the eye to back 

 of head, white; this latter runs into a bright vermillion spot on the back 

 of head. Rump and middle tail feathers black; the outer ones white 

 with black spots on the outer webs. The female differs only in lacking 

 the red spot on the back of the head. There are two subspecies as fol- 

 lows: 



394a. Gairdner Woodpecker. {D. p. gairdnerii.) Pacific coast, 

 north to British Columbia. Similar to the Downy but lacks or has very 

 few white spots on the inner secondaries and the coverts, these being 

 plain black. 



394b. Batchelder Woodpecker {D. p. oreoecus.) Rocky Mt. region of 

 the U. S. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



Downy Woodpeckers build their nests in holes in trees, either in the 

 dead branch of an apple tree or the trunks of dead trees in the woods. 

 They are generally less than twenty feet from the ground and from 



