100 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



to breed in Massachusetts ; but, as a general thing, it is not 

 found south of the northern border of this State. Verrill, 

 in his Catalogue of Maine birds, before referred to, says 

 " it is a common resident, and breeds : " he also says it is 

 " most common in winter." 



The great size and strength of this bird enable it to 

 pierce into and tear apart the decaying trees in which its 

 food is burrowing, with wonderful facility and ease. I have 

 at times, in passing through the forest, found huge trees 

 that had died and fallen to the ground, with their bark 

 stripped off, and large chips torn out, as if some animal had 

 been at work on them ; and I always supposed that a bear 

 had been amusing himself, as those animals sometimes do, 

 in this employment. One day I discovered the author of 

 the demolition, and it proved to be the Pileated Woodpecker. 

 "While seated in the woods near the settlement known as 

 Wilson's Mills in Maine, I heard a large animal, as I sup- 

 posed, rooting and tearing into a dead tree a few rods off. I 

 crept up near the sound, hoping to get a shot at a bear, when 

 I discovered this bird, which looked very much like a black 

 hen, busily at work. He was searching for the borers and 

 large black ants that hide beneath the bark ; and so earnestly 

 was he employed, that he permitted me to approach very 

 near him. He would force his powerful bill, by repeated 

 strokes, into the bark, in holes in a direct line with the 

 grain, until he had marked out a patch, perhaps six or eight 

 inches square, and then, striking into it diagonally, tear it 

 off, thus exposing the living vermin beneath, which he lost 

 no time in securing. After clearing that spot, he moved to 

 another, and repeated the same operation, until, by a sud- 

 den movement, I startled him, when he flew off, uttering 

 a rattling cackle similar to that of a garrulous hen. His 

 flight was similar to that of the other woodpeckers de- 

 scribed in another place in this volume. In addition to 

 insects, this Woodpecker eats acorns, beech-nuts, berries, 

 and Indian corn, but is not at all troublesome to farmers ; 



