HAIRY WOODPECKER. 245 



The Hairy Woodpecker, P. villosus, is a constant resident in our mari- 

 time and inland districts, from the Texas, where I have found it numerous, 

 to the State of New Hampshire, as well as in all sufficiently wooded tracts 

 intervening between the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi, and the 

 northern borders of our great lakes. But not a single individual of this 

 species could I or my sons procure in the State of Maine, where, however, 

 the larger species, P. canadensis, was quite abundant, and from whence it 

 extends its migrations "as far north," according to Dr. Richardson, "as the 

 sixty-third parallel." "It remains," he continues, "all the year in the Fur 

 Countries, and is the most common species up to the fifty-sixth degree of 

 latitude, north of which it yields in frequency to the three-toed species." 



Lively, noisy, and careless of man, the Hairy Woodpecker is found at all 

 seasons in the orchards, among the trees of our cities, along the borders of 

 plantations, on the fences, or on the trees left in the fields, as well as in the 

 densest parts of the forests. Nay, reader, I have found this species, when in 

 company with my friend Harris and my youngest son, in the very midst 

 of vast salt-marshes, about the mouths of the Mississippi, where here and 

 there a straggling willow or cotton-tree bush occurred, as gay, busy, noisy, 

 and contented as if it had been in the midst of the woods. In such localities 

 it alights against the stalks of the largest and tallest reeds, and perforates 

 them as it is wont to bore into trees. 



In almost all parts of the Southern States, it becomes in winter one of the 

 most familiar species, and, like the Downy Woodpecker, comes to the yard 

 to glean the grains of corn left by the cattle. There it may be seen hopping 

 on the ground, among Turtle Doves, Cardinal Grosbeaks, Red-bellied Wood- 

 peckers, and several species of Blackbirds. At this season, its visits to the 

 corn-cribs are extremely frequent; and curious indeed do the shrill notes of 

 this lively and industrious bird sound in the ear of the person who chances 

 to surprise it within the crib, from which it makes off, passing swiftly 

 perhaps within a foot or so of his hand. But no sooner has its escape been 

 effected than it will alight close by, on the top of a fence-stake, and chuck 

 aloud as if in merriment. I have often observed it clinging to the stalks of 

 the sugar-cane, boring them, and apparently greatly enjoying the sweet 

 juices of that plant; and when I have seen it, in severe winter weather, 

 attempting to bore the dried stalks of maize, I have thought it expected to 

 find in them something equally pleasing to its taste. Like all our other 

 species, it clings, when shot, to the trunk or branch of the tree, until quite 

 dead, and even remains sticking for several minutes more. 



The flight of this species is usually short, though rapid, in this respect 

 agreeing with that of some others allied to it, which are constant residents 

 in the United States, and differing from that of the migratory species. It is 



