BIRDS OF NEW YORK 143 



or, in some sections, perhaps, surpassed in numbers by the FUcker. In the 

 more thickly settled portions of the State it is at least seven times more 

 numerous than the Hairy woodpecker in summer and three times as numer- 

 ous in fall and winter. In the Adirondacks, however, it barely equals that 

 species in numbers. In the nesting season it is found in orchards, shade 

 trees and fringes of trees along streams and fence rows as well as in the 

 woods, and breeds oftentimes within the limits of our villages and cities. 



Habits. The little Downy is the least suspicious of our woodpeckers, 

 coming fearlessly to the suet or bag of scraps placed on " the birds' lunch 

 counter " or nailed to the tree or window sill for his accommodation. He 

 can even be taught to take food from the hand. When one approaches 

 him while at work, he merely hitches a few feet farther up the tree or edges 

 around the trunk, occasionally stealing a glance at the intruder to satisfy 

 himself that no harm is intended. When startled he flies away with undu- 

 lating flight, uttering a sharp metallic peek "resembling the clink of a 

 stonecutter's chisel." Occasionally this note is rapidly repeated in a long 

 rattling call, suggesting the " whinney of a diminutive horse." The 

 industrious tap, tap, or peck, peck of his bill as he searches the bark or 

 rotten wood for grubs and beetles is heard more continuously than his 

 vocal performances, and even in the mating season he attracts his mate 

 and announces his supremacy over some chosen sphere of influence by 

 drumming with his beak on some hard dry limb or resonant piece of bark 

 rather than by trusting his fortunes to the allurements of his voice. This 

 instrumental music of the Downy woodpecker is a long, rolling tattoo of 

 considerable carrying power, and by the inexperienced is supposed to 

 arise from some creature much larger than this little bird, but it is by no 

 means so big a noise as the corresponding performance of the Hairy wood- 

 pecker, the Sapsucker, or the Flicker. 



During the winter these woodpeckers do not associate with their own 

 kind but are usually found accompanied by nuthatches, chickadees and 

 Brown creepers. John Burroughs even relates how his nearest Downy 

 neighbor destroyed the sleeping apartment of the companion which tried 

 to make friends with him. This undoubtedly was due, not to Mr Downy's 



