4 6 



GOLD- WINGED WO OD PECKER. 



some regard from the husbandman, were he not accused, and 

 perhaps not without just cause, of being too partial to the 

 Indian-corn when in that state which is usually called roast- 

 ing-ears. His visits are indeed rather frequent about this 

 time ; and the farmer, suspecting what is going on, steals 

 through among the rows with his gun, bent on vengeance, 

 and forgetful of the benevolent sentiment of the poet, that 



Just as wide of justice lie must fall, 



Who thinks •all made for one, not one for all. 



But farmers, in general, are not much versed in poetry, and 

 pretty well acquainted with the value of corn, from the hard 

 labour requisite in raising it. 



In rambling through the woods one day, I happened to 

 shoot one of these birds, and wounded him slightly in the 

 wing. Finding him in full feather, and seemingly but little 

 hurt, I took him home, and put him into a large cage, made 

 of willows, intending to keep him in my own room, that we 

 might become better acquainted. As soon as he found him- 

 self inclosed on all sides, he lost no time in idle fluttering, but, 

 throwing himself against the bars of the cage, began instantly 

 to demolish the willows, battering them with great vehemence, 

 and uttering a loud piteous kind of cackling, similar to that of 

 a hen when she is alarmed and takes to wing. Poor Baron 

 Trenck never laboured with more eager diligence at the walls 

 of his prison than this son of the forest in his exertions for 

 liberty ; and he exercised his powerful bill with such force, 

 digging into the sticks, seizing and shaking them so from side 

 to side, that he soon opened for himself a passage ; and, though 

 I repeatedly repaired the bread), and barricaded every open- 

 ing, in the best manner I could, yet, on my return into the 

 room, I always found him at large, climbing up the chairs, or 

 running about the floor, where, from the dexterity of his 

 motious, moving backward, forward, and sidewise, with the 

 same facility, it became difficult to get hold of him again. 

 Having placed him in a strong wire cage, he seemed to give 

 up all hopes of making his escape, and soon became very 



