THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 277 



All Woodpeckers are extremely expert at discovering insects as they lie 

 under the bark of trees. No sooner have they alighted, than they stand for 

 a few moments motionless and listening. If no motion is observed in the 

 bark, the Woodpecker gives a smart rap with its bill, and bending its neck 

 sidewise lays its head close to it, when the least crawling motion of a beetle 

 or even a larva is instantly discovered, and the bird forthwith attacks the 

 tree, removes the bark, and continues to dig until it reaches its prey, when 

 it secures and swallows it. This manner of obtaining food is observed 

 particularly during the winter, when few forest fruits are to be found. 

 Should they, at this season, discover a vine loaded with grapes, they are seen 

 hanging to the branches by their feet, and helping themselves with their bill. 

 At this time they also resort to the corn-cribs, and feed on the corn gathered 

 and laid up by the farmers. 



In Louisiana and Kentucky, the Red-headed Woodpecker rears two broods 

 each year; in the Middle Districts more usually only one. The female lays 

 from two to six eggs, which are pure white and translucent, sometimes in 

 holes not more than six feet from the ground, at other times as high as 

 possible. The young birds have at first the upper part of the head grey, 

 but towards autumn the red begins to appear. During the first winter, the 

 red is seen richly intermixed with the grey feathers, and, at the approach of 

 spring, scarcely any difference is perceptible between the sexes. 



The Red-headed Woodpecker is found in all parts of the United States. 

 Its flesh is tough, and smells strongly of ants and other insects, so as to be 

 scarcely eatable. 



An European friend of mine, on seeing some of these birds for the first 

 time, as he was crossing the Alleghanies, wrote me, on reaching Pittsburg, 

 that he had met with a beautiful species of Jay, the plumage of which was 

 red, black and white, and its manners so gentle, that it suffered him to 

 approach so near as the foot of a low tree on which it was. 



On being wounded in the wing, they cry as they fall, and continue to do 

 so for many minutes after being taken, pecking at their foe with great vigour. 

 If not picked up, they make to the nearest tree, and are soon out of reach, 

 as they can climb by leaps of considerable length faster than can be imagined. 

 The number of insects of all sorts destroyed by this bird alone is incalculable, 

 and it thus affords to the husbandman a full return for the mischief which it 

 commits in his garden and fields. 



In Kentucky and the Southern States, many of these birds are killed in 

 the following manner. As soon as the Red-heads have begun to visit a 

 cherry or an apple tree, a pole is placed along the trunk of the tree, passing 

 up amongst the central branches, and extending six or seven feet beyond the 

 highest twigs. The Woodpeckers alight by preference on the pole, and 



