■\A'hat IS that rattling drum-call? Look! There is the ilrummer, 

 high up on that telegraph pole, and yery conspicuous he is, with his 

 glossy black and white plumage, and brilliant red head and neck. 

 How does he beat that long, rolling rattle, the regular woodpecker 

 drum-call? Does the sound come from the bird or the wood? Did 

 Yiiu ever notice a red-headed woodpecker make a soundless call on a 

 fence stake where the decaying wood allowed of the full entrance of 

 his beak? There he goes to that hickory tree. Notice the rapid, si)as- 

 modic motion of his head. Don"t you think he is a pretty good ath- 

 lete, to hurl his head and beak back and forth like that? Let us count 

 how many strokes to the second. How many did you make it? Nq. 

 tice his legs. Have you seen any bird this Spring with as short ones? 

 (;'an you tell me why his tail feathers are tipped with stiff points? 

 "Watch him and 3'ou will see. There, he"s going to strike a hard blow 

 with his bill. Sec him brace the jioints of his tail feathers against the 

 tree and, rising to the full length of his short, powerful legs, and 

 drawing back his liody, head and neck, dash his bill home with a force 

 of weight and muscle which is knocking off good-sized pieces from 

 the hard hickory tree. Wliat is he after? Some worm or insect wliose 

 retreat he has discovered. You think he must hurt the tree, do you? 

 Suppose you watch him closely this summer and see whether he works 

 on living or dead trees. 



But he has a relative known by his yellow vest, sometimes called 

 the ■'yellow-bellied sajvsucker," who does injure fruit and shade trees 

 by stripping oft' the bark and boring holes. Our red-headed friend 

 does not confine himself to insects alone. He eats nuts, fruits, and is 

 A'ery fond of corn, wheat and melons, Ijut he eats so many insects that 

 he earns all that he takes from the orchard and field. He is not a 

 very satisfactory article for a sketch. Five seconds is about as long 

 as he remains in mie position, but we must learn to do some things in 

 a liTivry. Let us see if we can draw an outline of his form. It is 

 pretty easy to make something that everybody knows is meant for a 

 bii'd, but it is not nearly so easy to make a sketch that every one will 

 kudw was meant for a jiarticular bird. But this is one of the things 

 that it will pay you to keep on trying, and after a while you will be 

 surprised to find how well you can draw. But, while he is before us, 

 let IIS write his color description. Put it in this order: Head and neck, 

 back, breast, wings. AV'here are the white bands — on his body or on 

 the wings, or both? 



If we had as sharp eyes as he has, not much would e^eai)e us. 

 See! Starting from tlie topmost branch of that tall tree he is flving 



