NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Singular crv of the male. 



often done from his flesh being considered as very 

 delicate food. 



When in the forest, the wood grows attache* 

 himself principally to the oak and the pine-tree; 

 the cones of the latter serving for his food, and 

 the thick boughs for an habitation ; and he some- 

 times will strip one tree bare before he attempts 

 the cones of another. He feeds also upon ants' 

 eggs, which seem a high delicacy to all birds of 

 the poultry kind; cranberries are likewise found 

 in his cropj and his gizzard, like that of domestic 

 fowls, contains a quantity of gravel, for the pur- 

 pose of assisting his poweis of digestion. 



This bird begins to feel the genial influence of 

 the spring at its first approach, and his season of 

 love may be said to continue from that time un- 

 til the trees have all their leaves, and the forest 

 is in full bloom. During this whole season he 

 may be seen at sun-rise and setting, extremely 

 active upon one of the largest branches of the 

 pine-tree. With his tail raised and expanded 

 like a fan, and the wings drooping, he walks back- 

 ward and forward, his neck stretched out, hii 

 head swollen and red, ^d making a thousand ri- 

 diculous postures: his^ry upon that occasion, 

 js a kind of loud explosion, which is instantly 

 followed by a noise like the whetting of a scythe, 

 which ceases and commences alternately for 

 about an hour, and is then terminated by the same 

 explosion. During the time he continues thU 



