166 BIRDS 



pecker's and the chickadee's visits to your free-lund' 

 counter. 



The Hairy Woodpecker 



Light woods, with plenty of old trees in them, suit this 

 busy carpenter better than orchards or trees close to our 

 homes, for except during the winter months, he is more shy 

 than his sociable Uttle cousin, downy, whom he as closely 

 resembles in feathers as in habits. He is three inches 

 longer, however, yet a little smaller than a robin. In spite 

 of his name, he is covered with black and white feathers, 

 not hairs. He has a hairy stripe only down the middle of 

 his broadly striped white and black back; but the im- 

 spotted white outer tail feathers are his distinguishing 

 marks. The female lacks his red head decoration. 



After he and his mate have decided to go to housekeep- 

 ing, they select a tree — ^a hollow-hearted or partly decayed 

 one is preferred — and begin the hard work of cutting out a 

 deep cavity. Try to draw freehand a circle by making a 

 series of dots, as the woodpedcer outlines his round front 

 door, and see, if you please, whether you can make so per- 

 fect a ring. Downy's entrance need be only an inch and a 

 half across; the hairy's must be a Kttle larger, and the 

 flicker requires a hole about four inches in diameter to 

 admit his big body. Both mates work in turn at the nest 

 hole. How the chips fly ! Braced in position by stiff tail 

 feathers and clinging by his stout toes, the woodpecker 

 keeps hammering and chiseUing at his home more hours 

 every day than a labor union would allow. Two inches of 

 digging with his strong combination tool means a hard 

 day's work. The hole usually runs straight in for a few 

 inches, then curves downward into a pear-shaped cham- 



