and the tree rattled so it could be heard afar. Most writers regard
this as the woodpecker's love call, a sign of spring, as it were--but
Downy is usually heard and seen doing it on warm days every month in
the winter. The females are seen at it almost as often as the males;
the latter are known by the scarlet band at the back of the head.
Perhaps it is not a love call after all; it may be only the exuberance
of spirits caused by a fine breakfast and a warm morning.

Downy kept it up, heedless of the human observer. But when a red
squirrel ran up the tree to within four feet of the spot chosen for a
sounding board, Downy suddenly left. The squirrel sat in the sunshine
and smoothed his fur with his nose and his paws, like a cat.

Two big hairy woodpeckers were on a neighboring tree, but they were
not so fearless. One can hardly get nearer than thirty feet. The field
glass is a great help in such cases, and no one should go to the woods
without one, or at least a good opera glass. These two were both
males. That could be easily told by the bright scarlet band on the
back of their heads. The rest of the plumage is much like the downy
woodpecker. Both have beautiful black wings, spotted and striped with
white and a broad white stripe down the back. Downy's white outer
tail-feathers are barred with black; the Hairy's are all white. Downy
is sparrow-size; Hairy is robin-size. Downy is usually a gentle
creature; Hairy is aggressive and militant. Downy is a little Lord
Fauntleroy; Hairy is a Robin Hood.

One other woodpecker was seen on this lucky bird-day. It was the
red-bellied woodpecker, more rare and more shy than either of the
others. His breast is a grayish white tinged with red, and his back is
barred white and black like a ladder; but the black is not so deep and