SCAN SORES. 303 



hardly conceive it possible for the whole to be the 

 work of a Woodpecker." 



" The first place I observed this bird at, on my 

 way to the South, was about twelve miles north 

 of Wilmington in North Carolina. Having wounded 

 it slightly in the wing, on being caught it uttered 

 a loudly-reiterated and most piteous note, exactly 

 resembling the violent crying of a young child, which 

 terrified my horse so as nearly to have cost me my 

 life : it was distressing to hear it. I carried it with 

 me in the chair under cover to Wilmington. In 

 passing through the streets, its affecting cries sur- 

 prised every one within hearing, particularly the fe- 

 males, who hurried to the doors and windows with 

 looks of alarm and anxiety. ... I took him up stairs, 

 and locked him up in my room, while I went to see 

 my horse taken care of. In less than an hour I re- 

 turned ; and on opening the door he set up the 

 same distressing shout, which now appeared to pro- 

 ceed from grief that he had been discovered in his 

 attempts at escape. He had mounted along the 

 sides of the window, nearly as high as the ceiling, 

 a little below which he had begun to break through. 

 The bed was covered with large pieces of plaster ; 

 the lath was exposed for at least fifteen inches 

 square, and a hole, large enough to admit the fist, 

 opened to the weather-boards ; so that, in less than 

 another hour, he would certainly have succeeded in 

 making his way through. I now tied a string round 

 his leg, and fastening it to the table again left him. 

 I wished to preserve his life, and had gone off in 



