454 WOODPECKERS. 



observed these borers busy tapping the small live trunks of 

 several wax-myrtles {Myrica cerifera) ; and these perforations 

 were carried down into the alburnum, or sap-wood, but no 

 farther : no insects could be expected, of course, in such situ- 

 ations, and at this season very few could be obtained anywhere. 

 On examining the oozing sap, I found it to be exceedingly 

 saccharine, but in some instances astringent or nearly taste- 

 less. To a bird Hke 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 Wood- 

 pecker engaged in the act of sipping this sweet fluid, which so 

 readily supplies it on all occasions with a temporary substitute 

 for more substantial fare. Sometimes, however, on discovering 

 insects in a tree, it forgets its taste for the sap, and in quest 

 of its prey occasionally digs deep holes into the trees large 

 enough to admit its whole body. 



The Downy Woodpecker is found throughout the eastern and 

 northern portions of North America, and like its congener, the 

 Hairy, is a resident, rather than a migratory species, breeding usu- 

 ally wherever it is found. There is no such difference in the two 

 birds as is represented by the names " hairy " and " downy ; " the 

 long feathers of the back from which the names are derived are 

 exactly similar. The differentiation lies in the size of the birds 

 and in some markings on the tail-feathers. 



THE RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. 



Dryobates borealis. 



Char. Above, black and white, barred transversely; crown, black; 

 sides of head with white patch, bordered, above, by red stripe ; beneath, 

 white, sides streaked with black. Length 7^4 to ZVi inches. 



Nest. In pine woods ; an excavation in a decayed trunk or living tree. 



Egg^- 4-6 ; white, with but little gloss ; 0.95 X 0.70. 



This species, remarkable for the red stripe on the side of 

 its head, was discovered by Wilson in the pine woods of 



