Hairy Woodpecker 
193 
cats; then watch for the downy woodpecker’s 
and the chickadee’s visits to your free-lunch 
counter. 
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 he is more shy than 
his sociable little cousin, downy, whom he as 
closely resembles in feathers as in habits. He 
is three inches longer, however, yet 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 back. 
After he and his mate have decided to go to 
housekeeping, 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 woodpecker outlines his 
round front door, and see, if you please, whether 
you can make so perfect a ring. Downy’s en- 
trance need be only an inch and a half across ; 
the hairy’s must be a little 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 
