56Q ZYGODACTYLI. 



late round the roots of the tall pine and cypress where 

 he has been a few hours employed ; the work of half a 

 dozen men, felling trees for a whole morning, would 

 scarcely exceed the pile he has produced in quest of a 

 single breakfast upon those insect larvae which have al- 

 ready, perhaps, succeeded in deadening the tree prepara- 

 tory to his repast. Many thousand acres of pine trees, in 

 the Southern States, have been destroyed in a single sea- 

 son by the insidious attacks of insects, which in the dor- 

 mant state are not larger than a grain of rice. It is in 

 quest of these enemies of the most imposing part of the 

 vegetable creation that the industrious and indefatigable 

 Woodpecker exercises his peculiar labor. In the sound 

 and healthy tree he finds nothing which serves him for 

 food. 



One of these birds, which Wilson wounded, survived 

 with him nearly three days, but was so savage and uncon- 

 querable as to refuse all sustenance. When taken, he 

 uttered a loud and piteous reiterated complaint, almost 

 exactly like the violent crying of a young child ; and on 

 being left alone in a tavern, in the course of an hour, he 

 had nearly succeeded in making his way through the 

 side of the wooden house. He also cut the author severe- 

 ly in several places while engaged in drawing his portrait, 

 and displayed, as long as he survived, the unconquerable 

 spirit of a genuine son of the forest. From his magnan- 

 imous courage and ardent love of liberty, the head and 

 bill are in high esteem among the amulets of the southern 

 Indians. 



The nest of this species is usually made in the living 

 trunk of the cypress tree, at a considerable height, both 

 sexes alternately engaging in the labor. The excavation 

 is said to be two or more feet in depth. The eggs, 4 or 

 5, arc white, and nearly of equal thickness at either end. 



