Oviposition commences on the day succeeding the completion of the nest, and proceeds at the rate of one egg daily, until the entire complement is deposited. Incubation closely, follows, usually a day or two after the last egg is laid. This is undoubtedly the exclusive task of the female for a period of thirteen days. Diligent and close watching has failed to show that the male takes any direct part in this important business. Although seemingly averse, or unaccustomed to this kind of work, he does not fail to contribute his share to the success of the undertaking. While his wife is engaged in sitting, he is an ever watchful and cautious husband. Unlike many other species, he does not make himself too conspicuous, but stations himself some distance from the nest, for fear of revealing its whereabouts, and only ventures into the neighborhood at certain regular periods, to receive the commands of his patient little house-wife, or to administer to her bodily wants. Though shy, these birds often seem saucy; and, while one person complains of their chirruping to and starting his horse, another claims that, 011 the discovery of their nest, they express their grief so impudently as to arouse his indignation. But when the nest lias been stumbled upon by some cruel oologist, and the female is compelled to abandon it and seek safety in flight, the male does not even then desert his hiding-place to come to her rescue. Everything is left to her judgment, and well does she play her role in the drama. By various strategic movements, such as imitating the actions and cries of a crippled bird, she decoys the inexperienced intruder to a remote distance, when she flings off' the veil of hypocrisy, and quickly disappears in the bushes. With the trained collector this ruse hardly succeeds, and the disappointed parent often beholds with profound sorrow the discovery of her nest, and its destruction by ruthless hands.
When the young are hatched, they are watched over with jealous care, and receive more than ordinary attention. Grubs, earthworms, plant-lice and larvæ of butterflies, in immense numbers, are daily gleaned, and fed to their hungry appetites. Such are their demands for food, during the first week or ten days of existence, that the parents are kept extremely busy in catering thereto. Occasionally, both are absent from home 011 this important business, but the rule seems to be for one parent to keep a watch over it and its helpless inmates, while the other is thus occupied.
At the age of thirteen or fourteen days, the young quit the nest, and receive their first lessons in the mysteries of bird life; and, in ten days more, are forced to shift for themselves, but are permitted, however, to remain with the parents until the time of the autumnal migration, when they help to form the small flocks which are seen flying southward about the middle of October.
The eggs of this species are four in number, rounded-oval in shape, and are covered over the entire surface with dots and blotches of reddish-brown upon an obscure grayish, or reddish-white background. In some specimens, these dots run into each other; and, in others, they are distinct, being more profusely collected about the larger extremity. The average measurement of a score of specimens from widely-separated localities is .97 by .80 of an inch. Such is the resemblance which obtains between these eggs and those of the Brown Thrush, that when sets of both are placed together in a tray, the difference between them would scarcely be apparent to a novice in such matters. It remains for the keen and critical eye of the more advanced student to point out the distinction, which consists in the paler and more roseate tint of the Chewink's eggs, and the larger size of those of the Thrasher. Wherever observed, these birds seem to be single-brooded, although nests are sometimes found with young, in June and August, which fact would seem to argue that occasionally more than one brood is reared; but, generally, the first brood leaves the nest too late for another to be brought out before the appearance of the early frosts.
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Plate IX.—PICUS PUBESCENS, Linaeus.—Downy Woodpecker.
The Downy Woodpecker, or Lessee Sapsucker as it is called byway of distinction, is a resident rather than a migratory species, and is known to breed wherever it is found. Its area of distribution extends from Lower Louisiana to Labrador, and from Texas northward through New Mexico and the Indian Territory to the 58° of latitude. It is also quite common in the maritime parts of Alaska, the Aleutian Islands excepted. Although abundant east of the Rocky Mountains, and rather more numerous than its nearest kin, the Larger Sapsucker, yet, owing to the smallness of its size, it is not so well known outside of cultivated districts.