DOWNY WOODPECKER (Dryobates 
pubescens) 
Length, 6 inches. Our smallest woodpecker ; 
spotted with black and white. Dark bars on 
the outer tail feathers distinguish it from the 
similarly colored but larger hairy woodpecker. 
Range: Resident in the United States and 
the forested parts of Canada and Alaska. 
Habits and economic status: This wood- 
pecker is commonly distributed, living in wood- 
land tracts, orchards, and gardens. The bird 
has several characteristic notes, and, like the 
hairy woodpecker, is fond of beating on a dry 
resonant tree branch a tattoo which to appreci- 
ative ears has the quality of woodland music. 
In a hole excavated in a dead branch the 
downy woodpecker lays four to six eggs. This 
and the hairy woodpecker are among our most 
valuable allies, their food consisting of some 
of the worst foes of orchard and woodland, 
which the woodpeckers are especially equipped 
to dig out of dead and living wood. In the 
examination of 723 stomachs of this bird, ani- 
mal food, mostly insects, was found to consti- 
tute 76 per cent of the diet and vegetable mat- 
ter 24 per cent. The animal food consists 
largely of beetles that bore into timber or bur- 
row under the bark. Caterpillars amount to 
16 per cent of the food and include many espe- 
cially harmful species. 
y 
A TWO-STORY BIRD NEST 
The nests of giant tropical 
orioles, or caciques, in Mexico 
are pendant structures 3 and 4 
feet in length. They are usu- 
ally built out on the very tips 
of slender branches, so that 
they are protected from the 
attacks of arboreal beasts of 
prey. Often, as in the above 
photograph, there is a little 
subsidiary chamber at the sum- 
mit, which is used by the male 
bird as a roosting place when 
his mate is sitting on the eggs 
below. 
63 
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (Coccyzus 
americanus) 
Length, about 12 inches. The yellow lower 
part of the bill distinguishes this bird from its 
near relative, the black-billed cuckoo. 
Range: Breeds generally in the United States 
and southern Canada; winters in South Amer- 
ica. 
Habits and economic status: This bird lives 
on the edges of woodland, in groves, orchards, 
parks, and even in shaded village streets. It 
is sometimes known as rain crow, because its 
very characteristic notes are supposed to fore- 
tell rain. The cuckoo has sly, furtive ways as 
it moves among the bushes or flits from tree 
to tree, and is much more often seen than 
heard. Unlike its European relative, it does 
not lay its eggs in other birds’ nests, but builds 
a nest of its own. This is, however, a rather 
crude and shabby affair—hardly more than a 
platform of twigs sufficient to hold the greenish 
eggs. The cuckoo is extremely useful because 
of its insectivorous habits, especially as it 
shows a marked preference for the hairy cater- 
pillars, which few birds eat. One stomach that 
was examined contained 250 American tent 
caterpillars; another, 217 fall webworms. In 
places where tent caterpillars are abundant 
they seem to constitute a large portion of the 
food of this and the black-billed cuckoo. 
Photograph by Dr. C. William Beebe 
