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Downy Woodpecker
Adult Male--Upper parts black, with a white line down the back; head black, with a white line above and another below the eye; back of head deep scarlet; under parts white.
Adult Female--No scarlet on the head. Length--6.83.
Breeding Range--Southern Downy Woodpecker, Florida to South Carolina. Downy Woodpecker from there northward.
Eggs in a hole, usually in a partly decayed tree, apple trees being perhaps the favourites, a fresh hole being made each season. 4 to 6 white eggs are laid on the bed of very fine chips at the bottom of the hole; the entrance is very small and usually perfectly round, about one and a quarter inches in diameter. Size of eggs--.80 x .57.
The Downy Woodpeckers are the smallest and undoubtedly the tamest of the members of their family found in the Eastern States. In apple orchards they are generally to be found during the summer months, and there it is that they choose their nesting tree, laying their eggs about the first of May.