RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 447 



not only nests in the orchard which suppHes him with suste- 

 nance, but ventures to rear his brood within the boundaries of 

 the most populous towns. In the latter end of summer its 

 reiterated tappings and cackling screams are frequently heard 

 from the shady forests which border the rivulets in more 

 secluded and less fertile tracts. It is also not uncommon to 

 observe them on the fence-rails and posts near the public 

 roads, flitting before the passenger with the familiarity of 

 Sparrows. In the Southern States, where the mildness of the 

 climate prevents the necessity of migration, this brilliant bird 

 seems half domestic. The ancient live-oak, his cradle and 

 residence, is cherished as a domicile ; he creeps around its 

 ponderous weathered arms, views the passing scene with com- 

 placence, turns every insect visit to his advantage, and for 

 hours together placidly reconnoitres the surrounding fields. At 

 times he leaves his lofty citadel to examine the rails of the 

 fence or the boards of the adjoining bam; striking terror into 

 his lurking prey by the stridulous tappings of his bill, he 

 hearkens to their almost inaudible movements, and discovering 

 their retreat, dislodges them from their burrows by quickly 

 and dexterously chiselling out the decaying wood in which they 

 are hid, and transfixing them with his sharp and barbed 

 tongue. But his favorite and most productive resort is to the 

 adjoining fields of dead and girdled trees, amidst whose 

 bleaching trunks and crumbhng branches he long continues to 

 find an ample repast of depredating and boring insects. When 

 the cravings of appetite are satisfied, our busy hunter occa- 

 sionally gives way to a playful or quarrelsome disposition, and 

 with shrill and lively vociferations not unlike those of the 

 neighboring tree-frog, he pursues in a graceful, curving flight his 

 companions or rivals round the bare limbs of. some dead tree 

 to which they resort for combat or frolic. 



About the middle of May, in Pennsylvania, they burrow out 

 or prepare their nests in the large limbs of trees, adding no 

 materials to the cavity which they smooth out for the purpose. 

 As with the Bluebird, the same tree continues to be employed 

 for several years in succession, and probably by the same undi- 



