154 RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



edges margined with cream-colour, with some of 

 the feathers tipped with white : secondaries white, 

 with two irregular black bars at the tip of each 

 feather ; the second bar is sometimes wanting 

 on the outer webs : rump, belly, and tail-coverts 

 white ; legs black. These birds are found chiefly 

 in old trees, and the noise they make with their 

 beaks is heard at a great distance : they are 

 very injurious to the maize-fields and orchards, as 

 they peck the ears of the maize, and destroy the 

 apples, which they eat so far that nothing but the 

 skins remain : they are sometimes so numerous 

 that a premium of twopence a head has been paid 

 from the public fund on purpose to extirpate them, 

 which has of late been much neglected. 



In the winter they are very tame, and are occa- 

 sionally seen to come in the houses, in a similar 

 manner to the Redbreast in England. They are 

 inhabitants of many parts of North America; and 

 migrate more or less to the southward in the au- 

 tumn, according to the severity of the approaching 

 season, frpm whence the natives expect either 

 a moderate or severe winter : upon their return 

 northward they soon begin to build, and are one 

 of the earliest of the Woodpeckers in performing 

 that operation. It is supposed by Buffon that ne- 

 cessity alone compels these birds to feed on fruits, 

 as it is contrary to the nature of the birds of this 

 genus : they are said to be very palatable food. 



