128 



Birds of Pennsylvania. 



upwards of sixty years old, their trunks completely covered with holes, 

 while the branches were broad, luxurj^Pt and loaded with fruit. Of 

 decayed trees, more than tliree-fourths were untouched by the Wood- 

 pecker, Several intelligent farmers, with whom I have conversed, 

 candidly ackiiowledge the truth of tliese observations, and with justice 

 look upon these birds as beneficial ; but the most common opinion is, 

 that they bore the tree to suck the sap, and so destroy its vegetation ; 

 though pine and other resinous trees, on the juices of which it is not 

 pretended they feed, are often found equally perforated. Were the 

 sap of the tree their object, the saccharine juice of the birch, the 

 sugar maple, and several others, would be much more inviting (because 

 more sweet and nourishing) than that of either the pear or apple tree; 

 but 1 have not observed one mark on the former for ten thousand that 

 may be seen on the latter. Besides, the early part of spring is the 

 season when the sap flows most abundantlj'^ ; whereas, it is only dur- 

 ing the months of September, October and November that Wood- 

 peckers are seen so indefatigably engaged in orchards, probing every 

 crack and crevice, boring through the bark — and, what is worth re- 

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

 the eggsand 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 

 Providence 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 ; they 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." 



