. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Bird Study 69 THE DOWNY WOODPECKER TeacJter's Story IRIEND Downy is the name this attractive little neighbor has earned, because it is so friendly to those of us who love trees. Watch it as it hunts each crack and crevice â of the bark of your favorite apple or shade tree, seeking * assiduously for cocoons and insects hiding there, and you will soon, of your own accord, call it friend; you will soon love its black and white uniform, which consists of a black coat speckled and barred w
. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Bird Study 69 THE DOWNY WOODPECKER TeacJter's Story IRIEND Downy is the name this attractive little neighbor has earned, because it is so friendly to those of us who love trees. Watch it as it hunts each crack and crevice â of the bark of your favorite apple or shade tree, seeking * assiduously for cocoons and insects hiding there, and you will soon, of your own accord, call it friend; you will soon love its black and white uniform, which consists of a black coat speckled and barred with white and whitish gray vest and trousers. The front of the head is black and there is a black streak extending backward from the eye with a white streak above and also below it. The male has a vivid red patch on the back of the head, but his wife shows no such giddiness; plain black and white are good enough for her. In both sexes the throat and breast are white, the middle tail feathers black, while the side tail feathers are white, barred with black at their tips. The downy has a way of alighting low down on a tree trunk or at the base of a larger branch and climbing upward in a jerky fashion; it never runs about over the tree nor does it turn around and go down head first, like the nuthatch; if it wishes to go down a short distance it accomplishes this by a few awkward, backward hops; but when it really wishes to descend, it flies off and down. The downy, as other woodpeckers, has a special arrangement of its physical machinery to enable it to climb trees in its own manner. In order to grasp the bark on the side of the tree more firmly, its fourth toe is turned backward to work as companion with the thumb. Thus it is able to clutch the bark as with a pair of nippers, two claws in front and two claws behind; and as another aid, the tail is arranged to prop the bird, like a bracket. The tail is rounded in shape and the middle feathers have rather strong _ . , _ , , quills
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Keywords: ., bookauthorcomstockannabotsford1, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
