176 RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



that season, you liear them screaming from the adjoining woods, rattling 

 on the dead limbs of trees or on the fences, where they are perpetually 

 seen flitting from stake to stake, on the roadside before you. Wherever 

 there is a tree, or trees, of the wild-cherry, covered with ride fruit, there 

 you see them busy among the branches ; and in passing orchards, you 

 may easily know wher« to find the earliest, sweetest apples, by observ- 

 ing those trees, on or near which the Red-headed Woodpecker is skulk- 

 ing ; for he is so excellent a connoisseur in fruit, that wherever an apple 

 or pear is found broached by him, it is sure to be amongst the ripest and 

 best flavored. When alarmed, he seizes a capital one by striking his open 

 bill deep into it, and bears it ofi" to the woods. When the Indian corn 

 is in its rich, succulent, milky state, he attacks it with great eagerness, 

 opening a passage through the numerous folds of the husk, and feeding 

 on it with voracity. The girdled, or deadened timber, so common 

 among corn-fields, in the back settlements, are his favorite retreats, 

 whence he sallies out to make his depredations. He is fond of the ripe 

 berries of the sour gum ; and pays pretty regular visits to the cherry- 

 trees, when loaded with fruit. Towards fall, he often approaches the 

 barn, or farm-house, and raps on the shingles and weather-boards. He 

 is of a gay and frolicksome disposition ; and half a dozen of the frater- 

 nity are frequently seen diving and vociferating around the high dead 

 limbs of some large tree, pursuing and playing with each other, and 

 amusing the passenger with their gambols. Their note or cry is shrill 

 and lively, and so much resembles that of a species of tree frog, which 

 frequents the same tree, that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the 

 one from the other. 



Such are the vicious traits, if I may so speak, in the character of the 

 Red-headed Woodpecker ; and I doubt not but from what has been said 

 on this subject, that some readers would consider it meritorious to exter- 

 minate the whole tribe, as a nuisance ; and in fact the legislatures of 

 some of our provinces, in former times, off"ered premiums, to the amount 

 of twopence per head, for their destruction.* But let us not condemn 

 the species unheard. They exist; they must therefore be necessary. 

 If their merits and usefulness be found, on examination, to preponderate 

 against their vices, let us avail ourselves of the former, while we guard, 

 as well as we can, against the latter. 



Though this bird occasionally regales himself on fruit, yet his natu- 

 ral, and most useful, food is insects, particularly those numerous and 

 destructive species that penetrate the bark and body of the tree, to de- 

 posit their eggs and larvae, the latter of which are well known to make 

 immense havoc. That insects are his natural food, is evident from the 

 construction of his wedge-formed bill, the length, elasticity, and figure 



* Kalm. 



