BPO ti - Mr. Peabody on the 
the purpose, in trees; and such is the strength of 
their bill, that they have been known to make exca- 
vations a foot and a half deep, into the heart of the 
hardest wood. Their blows may be heard at a great 
distance, as loud as those of a hammer. ‘The eggs, 
about six in number, and pure white, are deposited 
on bits of the wood. Soon after the young are 
hatched, they leave their den, and are fed on the 
branches of the tree till they are able to fly. 
The Pr.EATED Wooprrckrm, Picus pileatus, is à 
large and powerful bird, not uncommon in the wood- 
lands of Massachusetts, but seldom found in the 
vicinity of large towns. It does not leave us in 
winter,like the preceding, but remains throughout 
the year in our wild forests; and almost every wood- 
cutter can describe the rapid and angry manner in 
which he strips the bark from a hemlock or spruce, 
throwing it in long flakes around him. Should any 
one pursue him, he keeps far out of his reach, laugh- 
ing, as one would think from his loud cackle, at his 
 enemy’s vain endeavors. He never, under any CH- 
€ ances, relents from his natural wildness. If 
wounded, he makes fierce resistance to all attempts 
to seize him; and if overpowered and carried cap- 
tive, spends all his time in trying to escape from his 
prison. This he can easily do, unless the materials 
are very hard and strong ; and if he does not succeed; 
he ean make an impression in an hour on the walls 
of his house of bondage, which the carpenter cannot 
repair in a day. 
This bird excavates a gallery with its bill, for à 
necat E DEG AVAL Je a S EI 
