Species VI. PICUS VILLOSUS. 



HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



[Plate IX. Fig. 3.] 



Picus villosus, Linn. Syat. i., 175, 16. — Pic cTievelu de Virginie, Bupfon, tii. 74. — 

 Pic varie mdle de Virginie, PI. enl. 754. — Hairy Woodpecker, Catesbt, i., 13, 

 fig. %~Arct. Zool. II., No. 164.— Lath. Syn. ii., 572, 18. Id. Sup. 108. 



This is another of our resident birds, and, like the former, a haunter 

 of orchards, and borer of apple-trees, an eager hunter of insects, their 

 eggs and larvae, in old stumps, and old rails, in rotten branches, and 

 crevices of the bark ; having all the characters of the Woodpecker 

 strongly marked. In the month of May, he retires with his mate to the 

 woods, and either seeks out a branch already hollow, or cuts out an 

 opening for himself. In the former case, I have known his nest more than 

 five feet distant from the mouth of the hole ; and in the latter, he digs 

 first horizontally, if in the body of the tree, six or eight inches, and 

 then downwards, obtusely, for twice that distance ; carrying up the 

 chips with his bill, and scraping them out with his feet. They also not 

 unfrequently choose the orchard for breeding in ; and even an old stake 

 of the fence, which they excavate for this purpose. The female lays 

 five white eggs, and hatches in June. This species is more numerous 

 than the last in Pennsylvania, and more domestic ; frequently approach- 

 ing the farm-house, and skirts of the town. In Philadelphia, I have 

 many times observed them examining old ragged trunks of the willow 

 and poplar, while people were passing immediately below. Their cry is 

 strong, shrill and tremulous ; they have also a single note or chuck, 

 which they often repeat, in an eager manner, as they hop about, and 

 dig into the crevices of the trees. They inhabit the continent, from 

 Hudson's Bay to Carolina and Georgia. 



The Hairy Woodpecker is nine inches long, and fifteen in extent ; 

 crown black ; line over and under the eye white ; the eye is placed in a 

 black line, that widens as it descends to the back ; hind-head scarlet, 

 sometimes intermixed with black ; nostrils hid under remarkably thick, 

 bushy, recumbent hairs or bristles ; under the bill are certain long hairs 

 thrown forward, and upwards, as represented in the figure ; bill a bluish 

 horn color, grooved, wedged at the end, straight, and about an inch 

 and a quarter long ; touches of black, proceeding from the lower man- 

 dible, end in a broad black stripe, that joins the black on the shoulder ; 



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