302 POULTRY AND WILD BIRDS 
Woodpecker Family. — Birds with sharp, chisel-like bill with which 
they can drill holes in tree trunks and posts in search of grubs that lie 
concealed beneath the surface, or excavate large tunnels for nesting places. 
As they cling to the side of an object their stiff, pointed tail feathers serve 
as a prop to help support them. They usually have a red patch on head 
or throat or on both. 
303 Hairy Woodpecker. Length 9 inches. 
A small black and white woodpecker that stays pretty closely within 
the woods. The ground color of the upper parts is black but this is 
Hairy WoopDPECKER Downy WooDPECKER YELLOW-BELLIED 
SAPSUCKER 
marked with a white streak down the middle of the back, white spots or 
bars on the wings and much white on the side of the head. Below it is 
entirely white. The male has a scarlet band on the nape. Common 
S.R. and P.R. 
394 Northern Downy Woodpecker. Length 6% inches. 
This is our smallest woodpecker and closely resembles the preceding 
species in the arrangement of its colors, the only difference being that the 
white outer tail feathers are barred with black in this species and without 
the bars in the Hairy. The Downy is a less retiring bird and frequents 
our orchards and shade trees as well as woodlands. We often hear his 
industrious fap tap tap as he patiently digs out from some tree the grubs 
that form his bill of fare. P.R. 
