HAIRY WOODPECKER. ^5 



ments of beetles and gravel. In the morning, they are 

 extremely active in the orchards, and rather shyer than the 

 rest of their associates. Their cry is also different, but, 

 though it is easily distinguishable in the woods, cannot be 

 described by words. 



HAIEY WOODPECKEB. {Picus villosus.) 



PLATE IX.— Fig. 3. 



Picus villosus, Linn. Syst. i. 175, 16. — Pic chevelu de Virginie, Buffon, vii. 7. — 

 Pic vane" male de Virginie, PI. enl. 754. — Hairy Woodpecker, Catcsby, i. 19, 

 fig. 2.— Ard. Zool. ii. No. 164.— Lath. Syn. ii. 572, 18. Id, Sup. 108.— 

 PeaWs Museum, No. 1988. 



DENDBOCOPUS VILLOSUS.— Swainson. 



Picus villosus, Bonap. Synop. p. 46. — Wagl. Syst. Av. Picus, 22. — Dendrocopus 

 villosus, North. Zool. ii. p. 305. 



This is another of our resident birds, and, like the former, a 

 haunter of orchards, and borer of apple trees, an eager hunter 

 of insects, their eggs and larvge, in old stumps and old rails, 

 in rotten branches and crevices of the bark ; having all the 

 characters of the woodpecker strongly marked. In the month 

 of May he retires with his mate to the woods, and either seeks 

 out a branch already hollow, or cuts out an opening for him- 

 self. In the former case, I have known his nest more than 

 five feet distant from the mouth of the hole ; and in the latter 

 he digs first horizontally, if in the body of the tree, six or 

 eight inches, and then downward, obtusely, for twice that 

 distance ; carrying up the chips with his bill, and scraping 

 them out with his feet. They also not unfrequently choose 

 the orchard for breeding in, and even an old stake of the 

 fence, which they excavate for this purpose. The female lays 

 five white eggs, and hatches in June. This species is more 

 numerous than the last in Pennsylvania, and more domestic ; 

 frequently approaching the farmhouse and skirts of the town. 

 In Philadelphia I have many times observed them examining 



