600 APPENDIX. 



DOWNY WOODPECKER. 



(Picus pubescens, Bonap. Syn. No. 43. Nutt. Man. Orn. i. p. 576. 

 P. (Desdhocopvs) pubescens, Swain. North. Zool. ii. p. 307.) 



Sp. Charact. — Varied with black and white; beneath white; 

 crown and hind head black, the latter margined by a red band : 

 2d quill much shorter than the 7th. — Obs. The lateral tail feath- 

 ers broad and obtuse ; the shafts broad, each terminating in an 

 abrupt point, and not reaching to the apex of the extreme barbs. 



This diminutive and very industrious species is a constant 

 inhabitant of the fur countries up to the 58th parallel ; seek- 

 ing its food principally on the maple, elm, and ash ; and north 

 of latitude 54°, where the range of these trees terminate, 

 on the aspen and birch. The circles of round holes which 

 it makes with so much regularity round the trunks of living 

 trees, are no doubt made for the purpose of getting at the 

 sweet sap which they contain. In the month of February 

 (1830) I observed these borers busy tapping the small live 

 trunks of several Wax-Myrtles (3Iyrica cerifera), and these 

 perforations were carried down into the alburnum or sap- 

 wood, but no further ; no insects could be expected, of 

 course, in such situations, and at this season very few could 

 be obtained any where. On examining the oozing sap, I 

 found it to be exceedingly saccharine, but in some instances, 

 astringent or nearly tasteless. To a bird, like the present, 

 which relishes and devours also berries, I make no doubt 

 but that this native nectar is sought after as agreeable and 

 nutritious food, in the same manner as the Baltimore Bird 

 collects the saccharine secretion of the fruit blossoms ; and 

 in fact I have observed the Woodpecker engaged in the act 

 of sipping this sweet fluid, which so readily supplies it on 

 all occasions, with a temporary substitute for more substan- 

 tial fare. Sometimes, however, on discovering insects in a 



