BY THE WAYSIDE 
26 
ably turn out to be like the others. 
However, as the bird grew older, and was 
still white he was not so sure it would 
become ordinary. 
On June first the lady took the little 
robin from the nest and put it on a fence 
so they could see the mother bird feed 
it. The other young birds had already 
left the nest, and the parent birds were 
much concerned for this peculiarly dis¬ 
tinguished member of their family. 
When I first saw the bird it was old 
enough to fly and seemed as perfect as 
other young robins and acted as any 
ordinary bird would do. It exhibited 
all the usual albino'characteristics and 
was very beautiful in its coat of snow 
white feathers. 
I obtained a very good picture of the 
bird and it has been a good subject for 
guessing among people who have never 
seen or heard of a like specimen. 
Harold A. Maxwell. 
The Woodpecker Family. 
The Woodpecker family is one of the 
handsomest as well as one of the most use¬ 
ful of bird families. These birds eat many 
grubs and worms which would otherwise 
harm the trees. They are friendly with 
other birds and with man. 
All of the Woodpeckers have some red 
feathers about the head; that is, all the 
male birds, for Mrs. Woodpecker -^oes 
not wear such fine clothes as does Mr. 
Woodpecker. Their coats are black and 
white, except the Flickers, whose coats 
are golden-brown and black. All have 
long and strong bills for making holes in 
the bark. Let me tell you something 
about the different members of this fam¬ 
ily. 
The Red-headed Woodpeckers are not 
quite so large as the robin. They are 
black and white above, and white be¬ 
neath. Not only their heads but their 
necks and throats are red. They cannot 
sing us a sweet sound like the robin, 
but they have a noisy cry which sounds 
like the call of the toad onlv it is mtich 
louder. They select a partly decayed 
tree in which to make their nests. Both 
papa and mamma woodpecker work at 
the nest. One rests while the other 
works. They hollow out a tunnel, then, 
on the chips and sawdust in the bottom 
of this tunnel Mrs. Woodpecker lays her 
white eggs. The Red-headed Wood¬ 
pecker stores away nuts in the knot-holes 
of trees or in cracks on the fence-rails; in 
fact in any place where it can find a good 
store-house. 
The Hairy Woodpecker is about the 
size of a robin. Instead of having a red 
breast, it has only a red band on neck. 
It is fond of the forests. In the fall it 
begins to make its winter home. First 
it makes a round hole under the branch 
of a tree. Then it digs a horizontal tun¬ 
nel to the very center of the tree, and 
then turning downward, it hollows out a 
little room where neither snow nor wind 
can reach him. Here it spends the win- - 
ter. The Hairy Woodpecker, like the 
Red-headed, cannot sing, but it likes to 
tap or drum on the trees. 
The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, or 
Sapsucker, is smaller than either the 
Red-headed or Hairy. It has a red 
rown anq a md throat. It is black and 
yellowisn-white above and pale yellow 
beneath. There is a black spot on the 
breast in the shape of a crescent. This 
is one of the prettiest of the Woodpecker 
family, but it is not a useful bird, for it 
drinks the sap of trees. It selects a 
young and strong tree, and after making 
a hole in the bark, will drink its sap un¬ 
til it has injured or killed the tree. 
These birds dig far into the trees when 
