AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



381 



portion of the stump may be seen a Downy Woodpecker hanging on 

 just below a small round hole. Here he and his mate reared four young 

 Downies. About a foot above the Downy nest, a number of small holes 

 bored in the stump give evidence of the presence of a few "Yellow- 

 jacket" bees who have taken the upper story of this house for the sum- 

 mer. So much for characters that take prominent parts in this sketch. 

 We were wandering aimlessly along a narrow path, that wound through 



Photo from life by C. A. Reed. 



DOWNY WOODPECKER, (female). 



a favorite wood, when the musical, gurgling notes of a House Wren 

 arrested our footsteps. He was evidently in a pleasant mood, for song 

 after song came from the same place just beyond the brush which 

 separated the woods from the fields beyond. Owing to certain peculi- 

 arities in his song and to sudden interruptions from time to time in the 

 midst of his song, we stole forward to see what he was about. We 

 parted the branches and saw the songster just as he left the top of a 

 stump and a Downy Woodpecker dashed by in the very spot where he 

 had been sitting. It was apparent that there must be some feud be- 

 tween these birds and it required but a second glance at the stump to 

 decide what the trouble was. 



