166 HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



of locality takes place from south to north and backwards, within the 

 limits of the United States, in spring and autumn. 



The Hairy Woodpecker feeds on the larvae of most insects, as well 

 as on the insects themselves. It sometimes launches into the air after 

 a passing one, as indeed is the case with all the Woodpeckers with 

 which I am at present acquainted, although the larger species are less 

 addicted to this mode of pursuing their prey than the smaller. In 

 autumn it frequently feeds on berries near the ground, or on grasses 

 and other fruits among the tops of our tall trees. Its notes are sharp, 

 loud, and at times rolling, like those of others of our smaller species, 

 but frequently uttered singly whilst it is moving on wing or along a 

 tree. 



The hole which it forms for receiving its eggs seldom exceeds two 

 feet in depth, after diverging from its first horizontal direction, some- 

 times running perpendicularly, but often obliquely. In the Southern 

 States two broods are frequently reared in the season; the first being seen 

 abroad in May, the other in the end of July or the beginning of August. 

 In the Middle Districts it rarely produces more than one brood. I 

 have regularly observed that those pairs which had two broods in Loui- 

 siana, raised both in the same nest, and that not unfrequently within 

 a few yards of a house. The eggs of the first hatch are usually six, of 

 the second four. In the Middle Districts the number varies from four 

 to six, and in two instances I found seven. They measure 1 inch in 

 length by 5^ eighths in breadth, are elliptical or almost equally rounded 

 at both ends, smooth, pure white and translucent. The young remain 

 about the nest until well able to fly, as is the case with those of other 

 species. 



Various writers state that the Hairy Woodpecker has been foimd in 

 England ; but this is very doubtful, and at present it does not seem that 

 there are any well authenticated instances. 



I have figured a male and a female ; the latter, I believe, not having 

 previously been represented. 



Picus viLLOsus, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 175 — Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol.i. p. 232.— 



Ch. Bonap., Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 46. 

 Hairy Woodpecker, Picus villosus, WUs. Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 150, pi. 9, 



%. 3, male ? 

 Hairy Woodpecker, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 575. 



