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PIC US PUBESCENS. 
PICUS PUBESCENS. 
Downy Woodpecker. 
Picuspubescens Linn., Syst. Nat., I; 1766, 15. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cn. Form, not robust. Size, small. Sternum, not very stout. Tongue, rather thin and horny at the tip'which 
is provided with barbs for one third of the terminal length. The extensible sheath occupies about one half of the length of 
the tongue. Terminal hook of scapula, angled above and below. 
Color. Adult male. Glossy black above, including sides of head and the line extending down on to the sides, with 
the bristly feathers at base of bill, line extending from just in front of eye, inclosing it, and reaching occiput, line from the 
base of bill, running down sides of neck, broad line along middle of back, spots on outer webs of wing feathers, all but ba¬ 
sal portion of three outer tail feathers, and tips of next pair, white; but the white of the tail is more or less barred with 
black. Crescent-shaped mark on the occiput, scarlet. Under portion, including under wing and tail coverts, yellowish- 
white. 
Adult female. Similar to the male, but lacks the scarlet on the head which is replaced by white, and the white on the 
tail is not as extended. 
Yount/. There is a decidedly sulphury tinge to the white markings, and the inner white tail feathers are almost en¬ 
tirely black, in both sexes and, in the male„ the scarlet patch on the occiput is more restricted; otherwise similar to the 
adult. 
Nestling male. Very much tinged on the white with sulphury, the forehead is black, occasionally spotted with white, 
and the top of the head is covered with scarlet, but there is a white line crossing the occiput. 
Nestling female. Similar to the male, but usually has the forehead spotted with white and the top of the head is 
black. A specimen before me, an undoubted female of my own dissecting, has the feathers on the top of the head slightly 
tipped with scarlet. Iris, reddish-brown, bill, black, bluish at base of lower mandible, and feet, buish, in all stages. 
OBSERVATIONS. 
As in the preceding species, specimens from the South, although smaller in size, do not differ strickingly in color, for 
there is considerable variation in this respect in birds from all sections. The nestling plumage is worn but a short time, es¬ 
pecially the scarlet on the head which is soon replaced by the normal color. The Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers may be 
distinguished from all others which occur within our limits by the broad white line down the back. The Downy may be 
known from the Hairy, not only by the smaller size, but also by the banded white on the tail. Distributed, as a constant 
resident, throughout North America. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Average measurements of fourteen specimens from New England. Length, 6'90; stretch, 11'68; wing, 3'70; tail,2'45; 
bill, '67; tarsus, '80. Longest specimen, 7'15; greatest extent of wing, 12'25; longest wing, 3'90; tail, 2'85; bill, '70; tar¬ 
sus, '90. Shortest specimen, 6'25; smallest extent of wing, 10*92; shortest wing, 3'50; tail, 2-10; bill, *55; tarsus, '70. 
Average measurements of five specimens from Florida. Length, 6'30; stretch, 11*40, wing, 3'60; tail, 2' 17; bill, '67; 
tarsus, *65. Longest specimen, 6'50; greatest extent of wing, 11'80; longest wing, 3'80; tail, 2'30; bill, *70; tarsus, '70. 
Shortest specimen, 6' 10; smallest extent of wing, ll'OO; shortest wing, 3'40; tail, 2'05; bill, *65; tarsus, *55. 
DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 
Nests, placed in cylinder-shaped holes, generally excavated in dead trees. Dimensions, diameter of external orifice, 
1*50, greatest internal, 2'50. Internal depth, 10'00. 
Eggs, four or five in number, elliptical in form, pure, polished pearly-white in color. Dimensions from *50x*65 to 
*55x'70. 
HABITS. 
I have said, or rather intimated, elsewhere that the Woodpeckers, as a class, were 
endowed with a superabundance of energy hut there are none among them all which dis¬ 
play such an amount of nervous activity as the little Downy. Always busy; now climb- 
spirally up the huge bole of some old elm, pausing a second to give a quick tap on the 
bark; then, as the peculiar sound informs them that the wood is solid, they will utter their 
