BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 335 



which it lays five or six white eggs. Sometimes it saves itself 

 this labor, by making use of a hollow tree. The young remain 

 for a considerable time with their parents, who feed them till 

 their bills are grown hard enough to procure a subsistence for 

 themselves. This is not the case at first ; for two or three 

 months, the bill is so soft that it can be bent with the fingers, 

 and it takes twice that time to harden it for the rough uses to 

 which it is to be applied. In the south, this bird is called the 

 Log-cock ; and the Black Woodcock in the middle states. 



The Red-headed Woodpecker, Picus erythrocephalus^ is a 

 very elegant bird, and perhaps the most common of this fami- 

 liar race. When Wilson first landed in this country, long be- 

 fore he devoted himself to ornithology, as he was walking from 

 Newcastle to Philadelphia, he shot one of these birds ; its fine 

 appearance and rich colors struck his imagination so much, that 

 it had an influence in determining his mind to that pursuit for 

 which he was afterwards renowned. After spending the win- 

 ter in the south, this bird returns to us in May, after which it 

 is very common in the interior, though somewhat rare in the 

 eastern part of the State. It makes its home in the woods, but 

 spends most of its time in gardens, particularly at the time 

 when the best fruits are ripe. It helps itself with the utmost 

 freedom, caring little for the rights or threats of the owner. 

 Fruit like apples, too large to be eaten on the spot, it carries 

 away, striking it with a jerk of the head, and flying ofl" with 

 the apple sticking on its bill. There is no secrecy or shyness 

 in its depredations ; they are conducted with perfect good 

 nature, and with a confidence, fully expressed in its manner, 

 that the proprietor enjoys the appropriation as much as they do. 

 But there is another side to the account, for they show great 

 skill and industry in searching the trees for grubs, which 

 would be infinitely more destructive to the tree, than the 

 woodpecker to the fruit. 



They make their holes in decaying trees, where the eggs, 

 white, with reddish spots at the larger end, are deposited with- 

 out the ceremony of a lining. The black snake is a great de- 



