THE GOLD-WINGED WOODPECKER. 419 



Every one who has had practical experience of this bird agrees that it is very mischievous 

 in a garden ; and even Wilson, wiiose kind heart would hardly permit him to see that any 

 feathered creature could be hurtful to man, is forced to admit that its robberies are very 

 extensive, but ought to be conceded as a tribute of thankfulness to the bird for eating so many 

 grubs. " "Wherever there is a tree or trees of the wild cherry," writes Wilson, " covered with 

 ripe fruit, there you see them busy among the branches, and in passing orchards you may 

 easily know where to find the earliest and sweetest apples, by observing those trees on or near 

 which the Eed-headed Woodpecker is skulking. For he is so excellent a connoisseur in fruit, 

 that wherever an apple or i)ear tree is found broached by him, it is sure to be among the ripest 

 and best-flavored ; 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 j)assage through the numerous folds of the husks, and feeding on it with 

 voracity. The girdled or deadened timber, so common among corn-fields in the back settle- 

 ments, are his favorite retreats, whence he sallies out to make his depredations. He is fond 

 of the ripe berries of the sour gum, and pays pretty regnlar visits to the t'herry-trees when 

 loaded with fruit. Towards fall he often approaches the barn or farm-house, and raps on the 

 shingles and weather-boards. He is of a gay and frolicsome disposition, and half a dozen of 

 the fraternity are frequently seen diving and vociferating around the high dead limbs of some 

 large tree, pursuing and playing with each other, and amusing the passenger with their gambols. 



"Their note or cry is shrill and lively, and so much resembles that of a species of tree- 

 fix>g which inhabits the same tree that it is sometimes difficult to distingiush the one from the 

 other." 



On account of the garden-robbing propensities of this bird, it is held in much odium, and 

 ti^apped whenever occasion offers itself. Tn some places the feeling against it was so strong, 

 that a reward was oft'ered for its destruction. It is probable, however, that the services which 

 it renders by the destruction of noxious insects may more than compensate for its autunmal 

 ravages in the fields and orchards. 



Unlike the previonssiiecies, which is a permanent inhabitant, the Red-headed Woodpecker 

 is a bird of passage, appearing in Pennsylvania about the beginning of May, and leaving that 

 country towards the end of October. The eggs of this liird are pure white, speckled with 

 reddish-brown, mostly towards the larger end, and generally six in number. 



The adult male is a really beautiful bird, its plumage glowing with steely-black, snowy- 

 white, and brilliant scarlet, disposed as follows : The head and neck are deep scarlet, and the 

 upper parts of the body aie black, with a steel-blue gloss. The upper tail-coverts, the second- 

 aries, the breast and abdomen, are i)ure white. The beak is light blue, deepening into black 

 towards the tip ; the legs and feet are blue-green, the claws bine, and round the eye there is a 

 patch of bare skin of a dusky color. The female is colored like her mate, except that her 

 tints are not so brilliant. The young of the first year have the head and neck blacldsh gray, 

 and the white on the wings is variegated with black. The total length of the bird is between 

 nine and ten inches. 



The Ground Woodpeckers are represented by the Gold-winged Woodpecker of 

 America. 



This bird may lay claim to the title of the feathered ant-eater, for it feeds very largely on 

 those insects, and has its beak shaped in a someivhat pickaxe-like form, in order to enable it 

 to dig tip their nests from the ground and the decaying stumps of trees. In the stomach of 

 one of these birds Wilson found a mass of auts nearly as large as a plum. It also feeds much 

 on woodlice, those destructive creatures which eat the bitterest and the toughest sulistances 

 with the best of appetites, and have been knovm to render a boat unsafe for sea, in spite of the 

 strong flavor of salt water, pitch, and tar, with which seafaring boats are so liberally imbued. 



It is a brisk, lively, and playful creature, skipping about the trunks of trees with great 

 activity, and "hopping not only upwards and dowii wards, but spirally, pursuing and playing 

 with its fellow in this manner round the body of the tree." I may here mention that I never 



