THE WOODPECKER 



105 



build in this manner, but the chief of them 

 are of the woodpecker kind ; and indeed there 

 is not, in the whole history of nature, a more 

 singular instance of the sagacity of those little 



this. His tri-toloured plumage, red, white, and black, 

 glossed with steel blue, is so striking, aud characteristic; 



and his predatory habits in the orchards and cornfields, 

 added to his numbers, and fondness for hovering along 

 the fences, so very notorious, that almost every child is 

 acquainted with the red-headed woodpecker. In the 

 immediate neighbourhood of our large cities, where the 

 old timber is chiefly cut down, he is not so frequently 

 found ; and yet at this present time, June, 1808, 1 know 

 of several of their nests within the boundaries of the 

 city of Philadelphia. Two of these are in button-wood 

 trees (platanus occidentalism and another in the decayed 

 limb of a large elm. The old ones, I observe, make 

 their excursions regularly to the woods beyond the 

 Schuylkill, about a mile distant; preserving great silence 

 and circumspection in visiting their nests, precautions 

 not much attended to by them in the depth of the woods, 

 because there the prying eye of man is less to be dread- 

 ed. Towards the mountains, particularly in the vicinity 

 of creeks and rivers, these birds are extremely abundant, 

 especially in the latter end of summer. Wherever you 

 travel in the interior at that season, you hear them 

 screaming from the adjoining woods, rattling on the 

 dead limbs of trees, or on the fences, where they are 

 perpetually seen flitting from stake to stake, on the road- 

 side, before you. Wherever there is a tree, or trees, of 

 tiie wild cherry, covered with ripe fruit, there you see 

 them busy among the branches; and, in passing orchards, 

 you may easily know where to find the earliest, sweet- 

 est apples, by observing those trees, on or near which 

 the red-headed woodpecker is skulking; for he is so 

 excellent a connoisseur in fruit, that wherever an apple 

 or pear tree is found broached by him, it is sure to be 

 among the ripest and best flavoured: when alarmed, he 

 seizes a capital one by striking his open bill deep into 

 it, aud bears it off to the woods. When the Indian corn 

 is in its rich, succulent, milky state, he attacks it with 

 great eagerness, opening a passage through the numerous 

 folds of the husk, and feeding on it with voracity. The 

 girdled, or deadened timber, so common among corn- 

 fields in the back settlements, are his favourite retreats, 

 whence he sallies out to make his depredations. He is 

 fond of the ripe berries of the sour gum. and pays pretty 

 regular visits to the cherry trees, when loaded with fruit. 

 Towards fall he often approaches the barn or farm house, 

 and raps on the shingles and weather boards; he is of a 

 gay and frolicsome disposition ; and half a dozen of the 

 fraternity are frequently seen diving and vociferating 

 around the high dead limbs of some large tree, pursuing 

 and playing with each other, and amusing the passenger 

 with their gambols. Their note or cry is shrill and 

 lively, and so much resembles that of a species of tree- 

 Vou ii. 



animals in protecting themselves against such 

 enemies as they have most occasion to fear, 

 In cultivated countries, a great part of th< 

 caution of the feathered tribe is to hide or de- 



frog, which frequents the same tree, that it is some- 

 times difficult to distinguish the one from the other. 



" Such are the vicious traits, if I may so speak, in the 

 character of the red-headed woodpecker; and I doubt 

 not but, from what has been said on this subject, that 

 some readers would consider it meritorious to exter. 

 miliate the whole of this tribe as a wiisance: and, iit 

 fact, the legislature of some of our provinces, in formei 

 times, offered premiums to the amount of twopence pei 

 head for their destruction. But let us not condemn the 

 species unheard: they exist; they must therefore bo 

 necessary. If their merits and usefulness be found, on 

 examination, to preponderate against their vices, let us 

 avail ourselves of the former, while we guard as well as 

 we can against the latter. 



" Though this bird occasionally regales himself on 

 fruit, yet his natural and most usual food is insects, par- 

 ticularly those numerous and destructive species that 

 penetrate the bark and body of the tree to deposite their 

 eggs and larvae, the latter of which are well known to 

 make immense havoc. That insects are his natural 

 food is evident from the construction of his wedge-formed 

 bill, the length, elasticity, and figure of his tongue, and 

 the strength and position of his claws; as well as from 

 his usual habits. In fact, insects form at least two- 

 thirds of his subsistence ; and his stomach is scarcely 

 ever found without them. He searches for them with 

 a dexterity and intelligence, I may safely say, more than 

 human ; he perceives, by the exterior appearance of 

 the bark, where the) luik below; when he is dubious, 

 he rattles vehemently on the outside with his bill, and 

 his acute ear distinguishes the terrified vermin shrink- 

 ing within to their inmost retreats, where his pointed 

 and barbed tongue soon reaches them. The masses of 

 bugs, caterpillars, and other larvae, which I have taken 

 from the stomachs of these birds, have often surprised 

 me. These larvae, it should be remembered, feed not 

 only on the buds, leaves, and blossoms, but on the very 

 vegetable life of the tree, the alburnum, or newly form- 

 ing bark and wood ; the consequence is, that whole 

 branches and whole trees decay under the silent ravages 

 of these destructive vermin ; witness the late destruc- 

 tion of many hundred acres of pine trees, in the north- 

 eastern parts of South Carolina; and the thousands of 

 peach trees that yearly decay from the same cause. 

 Will any one say, that, taking half a dozen, or half a 

 hundred, apples from a tree is equally ruinous with cut- 

 ting it down ? or, that the services of a useful animal 

 should not be rewarded with a small portion of that 

 which it has contributed to preserve ? We are told, in 

 the benevolent language of the scriptures, not to muzzle 

 the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn; and 

 why should not the same generous liberality be extended 

 to this useful family of birds, which forms so powerful 

 a phalanx against the inroads of many millions of des- 

 tructive vermin? 



" Notwithstanding the care which this bird, in com- 

 mon with the rest of its genus, takes to place its young 

 beyond the reach of enemies, within the hollows of trees, 

 yet. there is one deadly foe, against whose depredations 

 neither the height of the tree, nor the depth of the cavity, 

 is the least security. This is the black snake (coluber 

 constrictor), who frequently glides up the trunk of the 

 tree, and, like asculking savage, enters the woodpecker's 

 peaceful apartment, devours the eggs or helpless young, 

 in spite of the cries and flutterings of the parents; and 

 if the place be large enough, coils himself up in the spot 

 they occupied, where he will sometimes remain for 

 several days. The eager school-boy, after hazarding his 



