454 , WOODPECKERS, 
observed these borers busy tapping the small live trunks of 
several wax-myrtles (Afyrica cerifera) ; and these perforations 
were carried down into the alburnum, or sap-wood, but no 
farther: no insects could be expected, of course, in such situ- 
ations, and at this season very few could be obtained anywhere. 
On examining the oozing sap, I found it to be exceedingly 
saccharine, but in some instances astringent or nearly taste- 
less. To a bird like the present, which relishes and devours 
also berries, I make no doubt but that this native nectar is 
sought after as agreeable and nutritious food, in the same 
manner as the Baltimore Bird collects the saccharine secretion 
of the fruit blossoms; and in fact I have observed the Wood- 
pecker engaged in the act of sipping this sweet fluid, which so 
readily supplies it on all occasions with a temporary substitute 
for more substantial fare. Sometimes, however, on discovering 
insects in a tree, it forgets its taste for the sap, and in quest 
of its prey occasionally digs deep holes into the trees large 
enough to admit its whole body. 
The Downy Woodpecker is found throughout the eastern and 
northern portions of North America, and like its congener, the 
Hairy, is a resident, rather than a migratory species, breeding usu- 
ally wherever it is found. There is no such difference in the two 
birds as is represented by the names “hairy” and “downy;” the 
long feathers of the back from which the names are derived are 
exactly similar. The differentiation lies in the size of the birds 
and in some markings on the tail-feathers. 
THE RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. 
DRYOBATES BOREALIS. 
Cuar. Above, black and white, barred transversely; crown, black; 
sides of head with white patch, bordered, above, by red stripe; beneath, 
white, sides streaked with black. Length 7% to 8% inches. 
Vest. In pine woods; an excavation in a decayed trunk or living tree. 
Eggs. 4-6; white, with but little gloss; 0.95 X 0.70. 
This species, remarkable for the red stripe on the side of 
its head, was discovered by Wilson in the pine woods of 
