AVES—WOODPECKER. 555 
fore wet weather, making the woods echo to his outcry. Almost every trunk 
in the forests bears the marks of his chisel. Whether engaged in digging, 
flying, or climbing, he seems perpetually ina hurry. He is extremely hard 
to kill, clinging close to the tree after he has received his mortal wound; nor 
yielding up his hold but with his expiring breath. He can rarely be recon- 
ciled to confinement. 
This bird is net migratory, but bears the extremes of both the arctic and 
torrid regions. Neither is he gregarious, for it is‘rare to see more than one 
or two in company. Their nest is built in the hole of a tree, dug out by 
themselves: it is eighteen inches long; the general color is a dusky brown- 
ish black ; the head is ornamented with a conical cap of bright scarlet; the 
chin is white, with two scarlet mustaches; the upper part of the wings is 
white, the lower part black, but the white is never seen except when the bird 
is flying. 
THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER! 
Is one of our resident birds. It visits our orchards in the fall in great num 
bers, and is occasionally seen during the whole winter and spring; but seems 
to seek the depths of the forest to rear its young in; for during the summer 
it is rarely seen. It inhabits the continent from Cayenne to Virginia. They 
are common in Kentucky and Ohio, ard have been seen near St. Louis. 
The only nest of this bird which I have met with was in the body of an old 
pear tree. The hole was almost exactly circular, small for the size of the 
bird, so that he crept in and out with difficulty ; but suddenly widened by a 
small angle, and then running downwards about fifteen inches. On the 
smooth solid wood were four eggs. The principal food of these birds is 
insects; and they seem particularly fond of frequenting orchards, boring the 
trunks of the apple trees in their eager search for them. In the morning 
they are extremely active. Their cry cannot be described by words. 
LEE HALRY WOODPECK ERs 
Is, like the former, a haunter of orchards, and borer of apple trees, an eager 
hunter of insects in old stumps and rails, and rotten branches and crevices 
of the bark. In the spring, he retires into the woods and seeks out a branch 
already hollow, or cuts out an opening for himself. In the latter case he 
digs horizontally first, and then downwards, carrying up the chips wita his 
bill, and scraping them out with his feet. They sometimes breed mm an 
—— 
* Picus varius, WiLson. 2 Picus villosus, Lin. 
