the Titmouse and the Woodpecker. 75 



loss to give correct information, in his description of the habits 

 of the feathered tribes. 



The bloom, the fruit, the health and vigour of a tree, are 

 interwoven with the economy of birds. Do you wish to have 

 a view of seven or eight different species of Colibri, collected 

 at one tree ? Wait, in patience, till the month of July ; when 

 a vast profusion of red flowers on the bois immortel (a tree 

 well known to every planter in Guiana) invites those lovely 

 creatures to a choice repast. Are you anxious to procure the 

 pompadour, the purple-breasted and the purple-throated 

 colingas ? Then, mark the time when the wild guava tree ripens 

 its fruit; and on it you will find these brilliant ornaments 

 of the forest. Is the toucan your object ? You have only to 

 place yourself, before the close of day, at the shaded root of 

 some towering mora whose topmost branches have been dried 

 by age, or blasted by the thunderstorm, and to this tree the 

 bird will come, and make the surrounding wilds reecho to its 

 evening call. Would you inspect the nest of the carrion crow ? 

 Brittle are the living branches of the ash and sycamore ; 

 while on the contrary, those which are dead on the Scotch 

 pine are tough, and will support your weight. The arms of 

 the oak may safely be relied on ; but, I pray you, trust with 

 extreme caution to those of the quick-growing alder. Neither 

 press heavily on the linden tree ; though you may ascend the 

 beech and the elm, without any fear of danger. But let us 

 stop here for the present. On some future day, should I be 

 in a right frame for it, I may pen down a few remarks, which 

 will possibly be useful to the naturalist, when roving in quest 

 of ornithological knowledge. I will now confine myself to 

 the misfortunes and diseases of trees ; and I will show, that 

 neither the titmouse nor the woodpecker ever bore into the 

 hard and live wood. 



Trees, in general, are exposed to decay by two different 

 processes, independent of old age. 



The first is that of a broken branch, which, when neglected, 

 or not cut off close to the parent stem, will, in the course of 

 time bring utter ruin on the tree. The new wood, which is 

 annually formed, cannot grow over the jutting and fractured 

 part, into which the rain enters, and gradually eats deeper and 

 deeper, till at last it reaches the trunk itself. There it makes 

 sad havoc ; and the tree, no longer able to resist the fury of 

 the tempest, is split asunder, and falls in ponderous ruins. But 

 ere it comes to this, the titmouse will enter the cavity in a dry 

 spring, and rear its young ones there. Now, if the diseased 

 or fractured branches were carefully cut off" close to the bole, 

 you would see the new accession of wood gradually rolling 



g 2 



