224 BIRDS 



Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey gives an excellent account 

 of the habits of this woodpecker, in her "Handbook of 

 Birds of the Western United States." She says: " It has a 

 nuthatch-like way of flying up to light on the under side of 

 a limb, and when hanging upside down turns itself around 

 with as much ease as a fly on a ceiling. At times the small 

 Nuttall waxes excited, and shakes his wings as he gives 

 his thin, rattling call. All his notes are thin, and his quee- 

 queep has a sharp quality. His chit-tah is a diminutive of 

 the ja'cob of the California woodpecker. He is a sturdy 

 little fellow and in flight will sometimes rise high in air and 

 fly long and steadily, dipping only slightly over the brush. 

 He has the full strength of his convictions and will drive a 

 big flicker from a sycamore and then stretch up on a branch 

 and call out triumphantly. Two Nuttalls trying to decide 

 whether to fight are an amusing sight. They shake their 

 feathers and scold and dance about as if they were aching to 

 fly at each other, but couldn't quite make up their minds." 



THREE-TOED WOODPECKER 



The Three-toed Woodpecker is resident through Canada 

 and into northern United States. It has the peculiar struc- 

 ture of only three toes on each foot. 



" It is a restless, active bird, spending its time generally 

 on the topmost branches of the tallest trees, without, how- 

 ever, confining itself to pines. Its movements resemble those 

 of the red-cockaded woodpecker. Like it, it will alight, 

 climb along a branch, seek for insects there, and in a very 

 few moments remove to another part of the same tree, or to 



