Concord, Mass.
1910
June 11
(No 2)
[June 11, 1910]

Nest of Downy Woodpecker

  This is the sixth consecutive year that the Downy Woodpeckers
(presumably the same pair) have bred in the same long, much-
decayed branch of the elm by our shed. A fresh hole has
been made every year so that there are now six of them
in a long straight line on the under side of the branch
which is nearly horizontal. During the time when the birds
have eggs and young the entrance hole is invariably as when
it was first made and so very small that the Woodpecker
can only just manage to squeeze in & out by wriggling hard 
for a second or two. But sometime the following autumn
or winter (I do not know just when) the hole is nearly doubled in size so that one
might mistake it for that of a Hairy. This at least has 
been the case with all the nest [nests] but one which is, I think,
that used last spring & which still remains as it was at
first. I have little doubt that all Downies regularly enlarge
their nesting holes in autumn to provide sleeping quarters during
the winter when it does not matter if the entrance is conveniently large
as the adult birds are in little or no danger of attack at that season.