THE SEARCHERS. 35 



at times performing the most singular manoeuvres ; and on securing their victim return to the tree, 

 •where immediately after a cry of exultation is heard. They chase each other in a very amicable 

 manner, in long beautifully-curved sweeps, during which the remarkable variety of their plumage 

 becomes conspicuous. When passing from one tree to another their flight resembles the motion of a 

 swing. They move upwards, sidewise, or backwards without apparent effort, but seldom with the head 

 downwards. Their manner of curving from one tree to another is frequently performed as if they 

 intended to attack a bird of their own species, and it is amusing to see the activity with which the 

 latter baffles his antagonist, as he scrambles sidewise dowTi the tree with astonishing celerity ; in the 

 same manner in which one of these birds, suspecting a man armed with a gun, will keep mnding round 

 the trunk of a tree, until a good opportunity presents itself for sailing off to another. In this 

 manner a man may follow from one tree to another over a whole field without procuring a shot, unless 

 he watches his opportunity, and fires while the bird is on the wing. On the ground this species is by 

 no means awkward, and hops with perfect ease after the beetles it has espied while perching on a 

 tree or fence. 



" It is seldom that a nest newly perforated by these birds is found, as they generally resort to 

 those of preceding years. These holes are found often to the number of ten or a dozen jn a single 

 decayed trunk. So few green or living trees are perforated for this purpose by this species that I have 

 never myself seen a single instance. In Louisiana and Kentucky the Red-headed AVoodpecker rears 

 two broods every year, in the middle districts more generally only one. The female lays from two to 

 six eggs, which are pure white and translucent, sometimes in holes not six feet from the ground, some- 

 times as high as possible. The young birds have the upper part of the head at first grey ; but towards 

 autumn the red begins to appear. During the first winter the red is richly intermixed with grey, and 

 , at the approach of spring scarcely any difference is perceptible between the sexes. The flesh of the 

 Red-head is tough, and smells so strongly of the ants and other insects on which it feeds as to be 

 scarcely eatable. In Kentucky and the Southern States many of these birds are killed in the following 

 manner : — As soon as they have begun to visit an apple or cherr)' tree a pole is placed along the trunk, 

 passing up among the central branches, and extending six or seven feet beyond the highest twigs. The 

 Red-head alights by preference on the pole, and while its body is close to it a man standing beneath 

 gives the pole a smart blow with the head of an axe, on the opposite side to that on which the 

 Woodpecker is, when, in consequence of the sudden violent vibration produced in the upper part, the 

 bird is thrown off dead." 



" So common are these birds," says Wilson, " that wherever there is a tree of the wild cheny 

 covered with ripe fruit there you see them busy amongst the branches ; and in passing orchards you 

 may readily know where to find the sweetest apples by observing those trees on or near which a 

 Red-head is skulking ; for so excellent a connoisseur is he in fruit that wherever an apple or pear tree 

 is found broached by him it is sure to be the ripest and best flavoured. 'Wlien alarmed at his work 

 he secures a fine one by striking his bill deep into it, and bears it oflf into the woods. 



" Notwithstanding the care," continues the same writer, "which this bird, in common with the rest 

 of the genus, takes to place its young beyond the reach of enemies, within the hollows of trees, there is 

 one deadly enemy against whose depredations neither the height of the tree nor the depth of the cavity 

 is the least security ; this is the black snake {Coluber constrictor), who frequently glides up the trank of 

 the tree, and, like a skulking savage, creeps into tlie Woodpecker's peaceful abode, devours the eggs 

 and helpless young, in spite of the cries and flutterings of the parents, and, if the place be large enough, 

 coils himself up in the spot they occupied, where he will often remain for several days. The eager 

 school-boy, often hazarding his neck to reach the Woodpecker's hole, at the triumphant moment 

 when he thinks the nestlings his own, strips liis arm, launching it down the cavity, and grasps what 



