336 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



stroyer of the eggs and the young. They show considerable 

 local attachment, and for years in succession, they resort to the 

 same tree. 



The RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, Picus Carolinus, is said to 

 be unknown in the eastern part of the State. In the interior it 

 is found, and Professor Emmons tells me that he has shot the 

 bird in the season of incubation ; others have taken them in 

 the autumn. They are found through the whole extent of the 

 United States ; but instead of frequenting the gardens, they 

 choose the solitude of the forests, preferring the hardy inde- 

 pendence of the woodlands, to the dangers which threaten 

 them in the vicinity of man. They have no objection to the 

 first approaches of civilization, and come freely to the girdled 

 trees which surround the log hut of the borderer ; sometimes 

 they pay a visit to his cornfield, when animal food is wanting, 

 and their loud, barking cry, is one of the most familiar sounds 

 he hears. They were doubtless common in Massachusetts, 

 some years ago ; but as they gradually withdraw before the 

 settlements, they will disappear as the forests are cut down ; a 

 consummation, which is quite as near at hand, as the friend of 

 civilization could desire. 



The YELLOW BELLIED WOODPECKER, Picus varius, is found 

 in summer, in most parts of the State, but is not familiarly 

 known, because, like the former, it keeps itself within the 

 shade of the forest, seldom suffering either hunger or curiosity 

 to bring it near human habitations. Its notes, which are loud 

 and plaintive, differ from those of all others of its tribe but 

 the bird is so shy and suspicious that it is not easy to discover 

 whence the sound proceeds. In its flight it seldom goes far- 

 ther than from one tree to another, and is hardly ever seen up- 

 on the ground. Its food consists of grubs and beetles. In the 

 summer, it varies its fare with berries and grapes, which it fre- 

 quently hangs, head downwards, from the vine, to gather. 

 When they migrate, they proceed by day in parties of half a 

 dozen, and at night take shelter all together in some hole in a 



