184 



BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



either. As he explores suspicious localities with gentle taps, 

 he quickly detects the evidences of unsoundness, and is not 

 slow to learn the cause. Worms is his hobby : soon he chips 

 an opening, and with his long, slender tongue, armed with a 

 barbed lance-point, — a capital tool, — he soon extracts the 

 cause of the evil. While engaged in ' worming' he continues 

 to utter his cheerful Plick, plick! in a major key, as if con- 

 scious that he is engaged in a good cause and not ashamed 



THE CECROPIA MOTH AND ITS COCOON (REDUCED). 



to own it. You can always tell where he is. A few ears 

 of corn is about all the pay he takes for his valuable work. 

 Protect him ; he is our friend." 



In habits, manner, and dress the Downy Woodpecker seems 

 but a miniature copy of its hairy cousin.. It more com- 

 monly frequents orchards and is often called the " sapsucker," 

 but this is a misnomer, as that name should be confined to 

 the yellow-bellied species. Although it bores holes in the 



