BIKDS. 181 



guarded against, the bird 1ms no other eTiomies to fear ; for this 

 purpose its nest is built upon the depending points of the most 

 outward branches of a tall tree, such as the banana, or the plan- 

 tain. On one of those immense trees, is seen the most various 



its genus, takes to place its young beyond the reach of enemies, within the 

 hulloK-s of trees, yet there is one deadly foe, ajfainst whose depredations 

 neither the heipht of the tree, nor the depth of the cavity, is the least 

 security. This is the black snake {coluber constrictor), who fretjuently 

 glides up the trunk of the tree, and, like a sculking savafje, enters tho 

 woodpecker's peaceful apartment, devours the eggs or hclph-ss 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 sometimea 

 remain for several days. The eager school-boy, after ha-'arding his neck to 

 reach tho woodpecker's hole, at the triumphant moment when he thinks 

 the nestlings his own, and strips his arm, launching it down into the cavity, 

 and grasping wliat he conceives to be the callow young, starts with horror 

 at the sight of a hideous snake, and almost drops from his giddy pinnacle, 

 retreating down the tree with terror and precipitation. Several adventures 

 of this kind liave come to my knowledge ; and one of them that was at- 

 tended with serious consequences, where both snake and boy fell to the 

 ground ; and a broken thigh, and long confinement, cured the adventurer 

 completely of his ambition for robbing woodpeckers' nests." 



Throughout his descriptions, Wilson is warm in defending the character 

 of the woodpeckers from the aspersions of Buifon, and the prejudices of 

 farmers. Of the Downy woodpecker he says, "this is the smallest of our 

 woodpeckers, and so exactly resembles the former (the hairy woodpecker) 

 in its tints and markings, and in almost every thing except its dimiiuitive 

 size, that I wonder how it passed through the Count de Bnffbn's hands 

 without being branded as a " spurious race, degenerated by tlie influence 

 of food, climate, or some unknown cause." But, though it has escaped this 

 infamy, ch.irges of a much more heinous nature have been brought against 

 It, not only by the writer above mentioned, but by the whole venerable 

 body of zoologists in Europe, who have treated of its history, viz. that it is 

 almost constantly boring and digging into apple-trees ; and that it is the most 

 destructive of its whole genus to the orchards. The first part of this charge 

 I shall not pretend to deny ; how far the other is founded in truth will ap- 

 pear in the sequel. Like the two former species, it remains with us the 

 whole year. About the middle of May, the male and female look out for 

 a suitable place for the reception of their eggs and young. An apple, pear, or 

 cherry-tree, often in the near neighbourhood of the farm-house, is generally 

 pitched upon for this purpose. The tree is miniitely reconnoitered for several 

 days previous to the operation, and the work is first begun by the male, 

 who cuts out a hole in the solid wood, as circular as if described with a pair 

 of compasses. He is occasionally relieved by the female, both parties work- 

 ing with the most indefatigable diligence. The direction of the hole, if made 

 in the body of the tree, is generally downwards, by an angle of thirty or 

 forty degrees, for tho distance of six or eight inches, and then straight down 

 for ten or twelve more ; within roomy, capacious, and as smooth as if 

 polished by the cabinet-maker; but the entrance is judiciously left just so 



III. Q 



