HA IR Y WO ODPE CKER. ! 5 7 



tection to the front of the head when the bird is engaged in 

 digging holes into the wood. The membrane which encloses 

 the brain, in this, as in all the other species of woodpeckers, is 

 also of extraordinary strength, no doubt to prevent any bad 

 effects from violent concussion while the bird is employed in 

 digging for food. The female wants the red on the hind 

 head ; and the white below is tinged with brownish. The 

 manner of flight of these birds has been already described 

 under a former species, as consisting of alternate risings and 

 sinkings. The hairy woodpeckers generally utter a loud 

 tremulous scream as they set off, and when they alight. They 

 are hard to kill ; and, like the red-headed woodpecker, hang 

 by the claws, even of a single foot, as long as a spark of life 

 remains, before they drop. 



This species is common at Hudson's Bay, and has lately 

 been found in England.* Dr Latham examined a pair which 

 were shot near Halifax, in Yorkshire ; and, on comparing the 

 male with one brought from North America, could perceive 

 no difference, but in a slight interruption of the red that 

 marked the hind head of the former ; a circumstance which 

 I have frequently observed in our own. The two females 

 corresponded exactly. 



* This, I believe, is a mistake ; and although this bird is beginning 

 to creep into our fauna in the rank of an occasional visitant, I can find 

 no authentic trace of the hairy woodpecker being ever killed in Great 

 Britain. It is a bird belonging to a northern climate ; and although it 

 closely resembles a native species, it can never be mistaken, with any 

 ordinary examination or comparison. The halifax in Yorkshire will 

 turn out in reality the halifax of the New World. — Ed. 



