Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 53.djvu/361

Rh of other birds if there are any in the neighborhood. He is not afraid of the cold, however, and may often be seen at sunset hard at work on the exposed side of a tree, while the north wind ruffles up his feathers and the frost makes the wood resound with reports like pistol shots. But just as the last spark of sunlight dies out among the tree tops he hurries off to his bedroom with an occasional shrill chirrup for good night, and stows himself away for a good sixteen hours of sleep. In May the pair construct a nesting hole in a dead branch, usually well up toward the top of the tree they have chosen. They are less given to occupying the same nest for successive seasons than are the flickers, and the abandoned holes, as well as their winter apartments, serve excellently for nesting places for bluebirds and tree swallows, and others of similar habits. During the heat of summer their habits are the same as at other seasons, though they keep more in the shadow of the leaves, and rise earlier in the morning, doing a large part of their sleeping at midday.

The hairy woodpecker is much larger and heavier than the downy, but his color and markings are the same, except that his outer tail feathers are pure white, not barred with black, as in the other species. They are much less abundant than formerly, some years being decidedly rare. Ten years ago, or even less, they were often seen climbing over woodpiles in farmyards on sunny days in the winter. Their habits are much like those of the downy woodpecker, and their cries, though louder, are rather similar. There seems to be no special reason why they should decrease in numbers, for they appear perfectly willing to put up with the conditions of a settled country, and are much less subject to the persecutions of the youthful sportsman than are their larger cousins the flickers.

The arctic three-toed woodpeckers are slightly larger, and are peculiar in having dispensed entirely with the real hind toe, being provided with only three toes on each foot, two before and one behind. The males are easily distinguished by a square patch of yellow on the back of the head.