_Dryobates pubescens medianus. Case 2, Figs. 26, 27_
The Downy differs from the Hairy Woodpecker in
color by having the outer tail-feathers with black
bars, but it is the bird's obviously smaller size
that will serve to distinguish it. L. 6-3/4.
_Range._ From Virginia northward into Canada. A
Permanent Resident. The Southern Downy Woodpecker
(_D. p. pubescens_, Case 3, Fig. 25) is smaller,
darker below and with the white markings smaller.
L. 6. It inhabits the south Atlantic and Gulf
States north to North Carolina.
Washington, common P.R. Ossining, common P.R.
Cambridge, common P.R. N. Ohio, common P.R. Glen
Ellyn, common P.R. SE. Minn., common P.R.
Our commonest Woodpecker; an alert, active little driller for insects
and their eggs and larvæ, and frequent visitor to our lunch-counters,
particularly if we supply them with suet. His sharp _peek, peek_,
running at times into a diminishing string of _peeks_, and his rolling
tatoo, as he pounds a limb with amazing rapidity, are prominent parts of
every-day bird language, the tatoo being a 'song' of the breeding
season.
Four to six white eggs are laid in a hole, usually in a dead tree, the
first week in May. The Southern Downy nests in April.