404 DOWNY WOODPECKER. 



The following varieties of this species are known to science : The Northern Hairy 

 Woodpecker, Dry abates villosus kucomelas Ridgway, inhabits northern North America, 

 south to about the northern border of the United States. The Southern Hairy Wood- 

 pecker, D. rillosus audubonii Ridgway, represents the typical form in the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States, north to North Carolina and Tennessee. Harris' Woodpecker, 

 D. villosus harrisii RiDGW., is found on the Pacific coast, from northern California to 

 Alaska. Cabanis' Woodpecker, D. villosus hyloscopus Brewst., inhabits the western 

 United States, except north-west coast. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Picus villosus Linn. (1766). DRYOBATES VILLOSUS Cab. (1863). 



DESCRIPTION: Above, black, with a white band down the middle of the back. All the middle and large 

 wing-coverts and all the quills with conspicuous spots of white. Two white stripes on each side of 

 the head ; the upper scarcely confluent behitid, the lower not at all so ; two blapk stripes confluent 

 with the black of the nape. Beneath, white. Three outer tail-feathers with the exposed portions, 

 white. Male, with a nuchal scarlet crescent on the hind-head. 

 Length, 8.75 inches; wing, 4.70; tail, 3.37; bill, 1.12. 



DOWNY WOODPECKER. 



Dryobates pubescens Cabanis. 



This is the most familiar and most social bf all our Woodpeckers, frequently enter- 

 ing gardens and orchards, even in villages and larger cities. In fall and winter, and 

 also early in spring, it seems to enjoy the company of other small birds, especially Nut- 

 hatches, Titmice, Kinglets, and Brown Creepers, in whose company it roves about in 

 the forests and orchards, and even in the parks of densely populated cities. It searches 

 the branches of the trees, saplings, hedges, fence-posts for insects and their larvas. In 

 spring, the love-season, it is fond of drumming on some dead bough whose center is 

 hollow, and whose shell is hard and resonant. In such places it will often drum for an 

 hour at a time, now and then stopping to listen for a response from its mate or some 

 rival. This is one of our most interesting and lively Woodpeckers, and like all its con- 

 geners, it is exceedingly valuable as an insect destroyer, feeding as it does, almost 

 exclusively of worms that infest the trees. It is a very unsuspecting bird, and when 

 engaged in excavating a hole for its nest, it continues its busy chiseling, not heeding our 

 near approach. The nest is usually found in the trunk of a small dead tree, often in a 

 dead Umb of an old apple tree. The eggs, four to six, are glossy white. 



The Downy Woodpecker inhabits the Eastern United States, west to the Great 

 Plains and south to the Gulf of Mexico. 



Gairdner's Woodpecker, Dryobates pubescens gairdnerii Ridgw., a variety of the 

 foregoing, is found on the Pacific coast, north to British Columbia ; while Batchelder's 

 Woodpecker, D. pubescens oresecus Batch., is found in the Rocky Mountain region of 

 the United States. 



NAMES: Downy Woodpecker, Lesser Sapsucker, Small Sapsucker. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: P/cus pubescens Linn. (1766). DRYOBATES PUBESCENS Ck^. {\m^). 

 DESCRIPTION: A miniature oi Dryobates villosus. — Length, 6.50 inches; wing, 3.72; tail, 2.51 inches. 



