SOUTH AMERICA. 135 



woods," he would say to man, " why do you 

 wrongfully accuse me ? Why do you hunt me up 

 and down to death for an imaginary offence ? I 

 have never spoiled a leaf of your property, much 

 less your wood. Your merciless shot strikes me, 

 at the very time I am doing you a service. But 

 your shortsightedness will not let you see it, or 

 your pride is above examining closely the actions 

 of so insignificant a little bird as I am. If there 

 be that spark of feeling in your breast, which they 

 say man possesses, or ought to possess, above all 

 other animals, do a poor injured creature a little 

 kindness, and watch me in your woods only for one 

 day. I never wound your healthy trees. I should 

 perish for want in the attempt. The sound bark 

 would easily resist the force of my bill ; and were I 

 even to pierce through it, there would be nothing 

 inside that I could fancy, or my stomach digest. 

 I often visit them it is true, but a knock or two 

 convince me that I must go elsewhere for sup- 

 port; and were you to listen attentively to the 

 sound which my bill causes, you would know 

 whether I am upon a healthy, or an unhealthy 

 tree. Wood and bark are not my food. I live 

 entirely upon the insects which have already 

 formed a lodgement in the distempered tree. 

 When the sound informs me that my prey is there, 

 I labour for hours together till I get at it ; and 

 by consuming it, for my own support, I prevent 

 its further depredations in that part. Thus I 



