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SPECIES 6. P/C/# VILLOSUS. 



HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



[Plate IX. Fig. 3.] 



s villosuSy LINN. %s. i, 175, 16. Pic chevelu de Virginie, 

 BUFFON, vn, 74. Pic varie male de Virginie, PI. Enl. 754. 

 Hairy Woodpecker, CATESBY, i, 19, Jig. 2. Arct. Zool. n, JVo. 

 164. LATH. Syn. n, 572, 18. Id. Sup. 108. PEALE'S Museum, 

 No. 1988. 



THIS is another of our resident birds, and, like the former, 

 a haunter of orchards, and borer of apple-trees, an eager hunter 

 of insects, their eggs and larvae, in old stumps, and old rails, in 

 rotten branches, and crevices of the bark; having all the cha- 

 racters of the Woodpecker strongly marked. In the month of 

 May, he retires with his mate to the woods, and either seeks 

 out a branch already hollow, or cuts out an opening for himself. 

 In the former case, I have known his nest more than five feet 

 distant from the mouth of the hole; and in the latter, he digs 

 first horizontally, if in the body of the tree, six or eight inches, 

 and then downwards, obtusely, for twice that distance; carrying 

 up the chips with his bill, and scraping them out with his feet. 

 They also not unfrequently choose the orchard for breeding in; 

 and even an old stake of the fence, which they excavate for this 

 purpose. The female lays five white eggs, and hatches in June. 

 This species is more numerous than the last in Pennsylvania, 

 and more domestic; frequently approaching the farm-house, and 

 skirts of the town. In Philadelphia, I have many times ob- 

 served them examining old ragged trunks of the willow and 

 poplar, while people were passing immediately below. Their 

 cry is strong, shrill and tremulous; they have also a single note 

 or chuck) which they often repeat, in an eager manner, as they 



