BIHUS. \'lO 



countries, a great part of the caution of the feathered tribe is to 

 hide or defend tlieir nests from the invasions of man ; as he is 

 their most dreaded enemy. But in tlie depth of those remote 

 and solitary forests, where man is but seldom seen, the little 



he dcscendort to the bottom of tlio cnpo, and hcffan his attack on tho oar? of 

 Indian com, rapping so liHirl, as to hi' licaril from every room in the house. 

 After tliis lie wonUi sometimes resume his former position, and take an. 

 other nap. He was big-inning- to become very amusing-, and even socialile, 

 when, after a hipse of several weeks, he became drooping:, and died, as I cou- 

 ceived, fr<>m tlie efl'ects of his wound." 



Of tlie red-headed woodpecker, the most common in America, the follow. 

 ing is Wilson's account. " There is perhaps no bird in North America more 

 universally known than this. His tri-coloured pluniaj,'e, red, white, and 

 black, glossed with steel blue, is so striking, and characteristic ; and his 

 predatory habits in the orchards and cornfields, added to his numbers, and 

 fondness for hovering alonp the fences, so very notorious, that almost every 

 child is acquainted with the red-headi'd 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, 1S08, I 

 know of several of their nest-; witiiin the boundaries of the city of Philadel- 

 phia. Tivo of these are in button-wood trees {phfiiiitis occidentalis,) and 

 another in the decayed limb of a laige dm. The old ones, 1 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, be- 

 cause there the prying- eye of man is less to be dreaded. Towards the 

 mountains, particularly in the vicinity of creeks and rivers, these birds are 

 extvi'mely abundanr, es))e(ially in the latter end of sunnner. 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 roadside, bo. 

 fore you Wherever there is a tree, or trees, of the wild cherry, covered 

 with ripe fruit, there you see them busy among the branches ; and, in pass, 

 ing orchards, you may easily know where to find the earliest, sweetest ap- 

 ples, by obser\ing those trees, on or near ^^■hich 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 

 /■ipest and best flavoured : when alarmed, he seizes a capital one by striking 

 his open bill deep into it, and 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. 'Ihe 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 rapa 

 on the shingles and weather boards : he is of a gay and frolicsome disposi. 

 tion ; and half a dozen of the fraternity are frequently seen diving- and vo . 

 ciferating around the high dead limbs of some large tree, pursuing and play. 



