CO CORD. 
1908 
April 15 
Peculiar 
behavior 
of a Downy 
Woodpecker 
’While we were at breakfast this morning, I noticed 
a male Downy Woodpecker clinging to a stem of a lilac very 
near the suet. I expected to see him fly to it in a 
moment or two’ but he remained where he was for ne arly 
half an hour . During most of this time he kept perfectly 
motionless, with his bill pointing nearly strs.ight 
upward. Even when one of my men began raking leaves from 
around the clump of lilacs, the bird did not move, although 
the rake handle swept to and fro within eight or ten feet 
of him. He seemed to be in a sort of trance ana quite 
oblivious to everything that went on around him. This is not 
the first time I have seen a Downy behave in this manner 
but it does not happen often. When the bird finally 
changed his position, he at once resumed his normal manner, 
running actively up the trunk of an elm and then taking 
short flights from tree to tree. 
