186 DOWNY WOODPECKER. 



every crack and crevice, boring througli the bark, and, what is worth 

 remarking, chiefly on the south and south-west sides of the tree, for 

 the eggs and larvae deposited there, by the countless swarms of summer 

 insects. These, if suffered to remain, would prey upon the very vitals, 

 if I may so express it, of the tree, and in the succeeding summer, give 

 birth to myriads more of their race, equally destructive. 



Here then is a whole species, I may say genus, of birds, which Pro- 

 vidence seems to have formed for the protection of our fruit and forest 

 trees, from the ravages of vermin ; which every day destroy millions 

 of those noxious insects, that would otherwise blast the hopes of the 

 husbandman ; and which even promote the fertility of the tree ; and, 

 in return, are proscribed by those who ought to have been their pro- 

 tectors ; and incitements and rewards held out for their destruction ! 

 Let us examine better into the operations of nature, and many of our 

 mistaken opinions, and groundless prejudices, will be abandoned for 

 more just, enlarged, and humane modes of thinking. 



The length of the Downy Woodpecker is six inches and three- 

 quarters, and its extent twelve inches ; crown black ; hind-head deep 

 scarlet ; stripe over the eye white ; nostrils thickly covered with re- 

 cumbent hairs, or small feathers, of a cream color : these, as in the 

 preceding species, are thick and bushj^ as if designed to preserve the 

 forehead from injury during the violent action of digging ; the back is 

 black, and divided by a lateral strip of white, loose, downy, unwebbed 

 feathers ; wings black, spotted with white ; tail-coverts, rump, and four 

 middle feathers of the tail, black ; the other three on each side white, 

 crossed with touches of black ; whole under parts, as well as the sides 

 of the neck, white ; the latter marked with a streak of black, proceed- 

 ing from the lower mandible, exactly as in the Hairy Woodpecker ; legs 

 and feet bluish green ; claws light blue, tipped with black ; tongue 

 formed like that of the preceding species, horny towards the tip, where 

 for one-eighth of an inch it is barbed ; bill of a bluish horn color, 

 grooved, and wedge-formed, like most of the genus ; eye dark hazel. 

 The female wants the red on the hind-head, having that part white ; and 

 the breast and belly are of a dirty white. 



This, and the two former species, are generally denominated Sap- 

 suckers ; they have also several other provincial appellations, equally 

 absurd, which it may, perhaps, be more proper to suppress, than to 

 sanction by repeating. 



