Birds of Massachusetts. 175 
understood that the bird is in search of insects, and 
that, so far from injuring the tree, its proceeding is 
highly beneficial It is amusing to observe the 
tenacious industry with which this little bird keeps 
on in its labor, never leaving a spot till it has been 
thoroughly explored. There could not be a more 
signal instance of the manner 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 relieves from many destroy- 
ers. 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 spe- 
cies, either in sound or hollow 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 ex- 
tremity 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withdrawn.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 'Turer-rorp WooprecrkerR, Picus tridacty- 
lus, 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, 
