338 BIRDS OP MASSACHUSETTS. 



the tenacious industry with which this little bird keeps on hi 

 its labor, never leaving a spot till it has been thoroughly ex- 

 plored. There could not be a more signal instance of the man- 

 ner in which ignorance confounds friends and foes, than the 

 case of this poor bird, which, notwithstanding all its services, 

 is thus defamed and persecuted. In summer it is found in the 

 garden and the forest ; in the winter, it ^may be seen from the 

 window, on the wood-pile or some old fruit tree, which it re- 

 lieves from many destroyers. It is perfectly happy under all 

 circumstances, and seems to look at mankind, not with disgust 

 and wonder at their folly, but with cheerful confidence that 

 they will do it justice at last. 



The nest is made like that of the preceding species, either 

 in sound or holloAV branches. The eggs, commonly six in 

 number, are white. The extensile part of the tongue of this 

 woodpecker, as well as of the two last described, is cylindrical, 

 while the extremity is linear, flat above, convex below, with the 

 tip pointed and the edges serrated backward ; so that a grub, 

 once impaled upon it, cannot easily be withdrawn. 



The Three-toed Woodpecker, Picus tridactyhis, is found 

 in Massachusetts, but much more abundantly in Maine and 

 those northern regions in which it resides. Dr. Brewer informs 

 me, that a woodpecker, answering to the description of this, 

 was shot in Templeton, and that it breeds as near the border 

 as Keene in New Hampshire. It is distinguished by its yellow 

 crown, and that peculiar formation of the feet from which it 

 derives its name. In its voice and habits, it most resembles 

 the yellow-bellied ; its breeding habits are like those of all the 

 rest ; its motions, like those of the red-cockaded, are petulant 

 and restless, passing from one tree to another, or to diff'erent 

 parts of the same tree, without taking time to examine any 

 single spot. In the middle of the day, it is silent, and goes to 

 some solitary place to rest. It is sometimes seen chasing in- 

 sects in the air, but never hurts them on the ground. Its flight 

 is swift, gliding and undulatory ; at every gliding, it gives out 



