WOODPECKERS AND THEIR WAYS. 347 



single tree, but there seems to be little evidence that the trees are 

 ever injured by the process, at all events not enough to offset the 

 advantage received from the destruction of borers and other 

 insects. 



The red-headed woodpecker is probably the most generally known 

 and widely distributed species in this country, though rare in ITew 

 England except, perhaps, in the more southwestern portion. I have 

 seen but two specimens in Il^cw Hampshire, the first in the southern 

 part of the State within a few miles of the coast. One hot June day 

 he came flying across the fields and, alighting against the trunk of an 

 apple tree, began hammering away at the bark in true woodpecker 

 style, then, descending to the ground, appeared to search for insects 

 in the plowed earth beneath the tree. After a few minutes he 

 took wing once more and steered off toward the south. Half a dozen 

 years later I saw one flying among the mountains near Lake Winne- 

 pesaukee, but had no opportunities for observing it. They were said 

 to be quite abundant in southern ISTew England in the autumn of 

 1881, presumably migrating visitors from the West, where they are 

 much more common. Like the flicker, this species exhibits a decided 

 fondness for fruits and grain of various sorts, and is generally con- 

 sidered a destructive bird on this account. 



The ivory-billed woodpecker, now confined to the Gulf States 

 and lower Mississippi Valley, is generally admitted to be the finest 

 representative of his race. He is nearly two feet in length, with a 

 scarlet crest and white stripes down each side of his neck. A consid- 

 erable portion of his wings is also white. In the Southern swamps 

 he still carries on the woodpecker trade on a scale in keeping with 

 his size. The alacrity with which he can hack to pieces the decaying 

 trunk of a tree is said to be simply incredible to one who has never 

 had the good fortune to see him at work. The pileated woodpecker, 

 or logcock, is somewhat smaller, with less white on the wings. For- 

 merly abundant throughout the country, this species has retreated 

 and diminished in numbers with the clearing off of the old original 

 forest growth, and is now only to be found in the most secluded 

 woods and mountain regions, and is nowhere common. A few 

 pairs are still said to linger in the western parts of Massachu- 

 setts, and I have found unmistakable evidence of their pres- 

 ence in the newly chiseled trunks of dead pines on some of the 

 New Hampshire mountains, but as yet have been singularly unfor- 

 tunate in never having seen a living specimen. 



