----
Another Woodpecker? Yes, there are such a tribe of us, you know; more than
you can count on your fingers and toes, as my cousin the Red-Bellied
Woodpecker said in the February number of BIRDS.
The word toes reminds me that I am not one of the three-toed fellows he was
so anxious to tell about. I have four, as you see, two before and two
behind. So have most of the Woodpeckers. Should you be looking out for me
this summer you will recognize me by my four toes, the white band down my
back, and the two white stripes on the side of my head.
My tongue you can't see, but it is small, flat, short, and horny, armed
along the edges with hooks. When I catch an insect I do it by throwing my
tongue forward, out of my mouth. I have an idea the insects consider my
treatment of them rather rough. If I didn't eat them, the wood-boring ones,
would destroy all the trees. My bill isn't strong enough to bore in the
hard wood; I only injure the bark, no matter what some people may say. The
wood-eating beetles, caterpillars, spiders, daddy longlegs, grass-hoppers,
and flies, are all grist for my mill--or bill, rather. I like beechnuts,
too, when I can find them.
I'm the smallest of all the Woodpecker family, quiet and unobtrusive they
say, in my manners. I am sociable, however, and go about a great deal in
the company of other birds. Mr. Nuthatch, Mr. Brown Creeper, Mr. Titmouse,
and Mr. and Mrs. Wren are my especial friends.
Can I drum?
Indeed, yes. I wouldn't belong to the Woodpecker family if I couldn't. All
I need is the stub of a dead limb whose center is hollow and whose shell is
hard and resonant. I will drum on that with my bill for an hour at a time,
stopping now and then to listen for a response from my mate or a rival.
Early in the spring we "Downies" pick a hole in a dead tree, or in a post
or rail of a fence, in which we lay four, five, or six glossy white eggs.
Sometimes it takes us a whole week to chisel out that hole, and we are so
busy that a little boy or little girl can get very near without our minding
it.
[Illustration: DOWNY WOODPECKER.]