SOUTH AMERICA. 131 

 whether the tree were sound or not. There are fourteen Second 



JOUKNEY. 



species here ; the largest the size of a magpie, the 



smallest no bigger than the wren. Tliey are all beauti- 

 ful ; and the greater part of them have their heads orna- 

 mented with a fine crest, movable at pleasure. 



It is said, if you once give a dog a bad name, whether 

 innocent or guilty, he never loses it. It sticks close to 

 him wherever he goes. He has many a kick, and many 

 a blow to bear on account of it ; and there is nobody to 

 stand up for him. The Woodpecker is little better off. 

 The proprietors of woods, in Europe, have long accused 

 him of injuring their timber, by boring holes in it, and 

 letting in the water, which soon rots it. The colonists in 

 America have the same complaint against him. Had he 

 the power of speech, Avhich Ovid's birds possessed in days 

 of yore, he could soon make a defence. " Mighty lord 

 of the woods," he would say to man, " why do you 

 wrongfully accuse me .'^ Why do you hunt me up and 

 down to death, for an imaginary offence ? I have never 

 spoiled a leaf of your property, much less your wood. 

 Your merciless shot strikes me, at the very time I am 

 doing you a service. But your shortsightedness will not 

 let you see it, or your pride is above examining closely 

 the actions of so insignificant a little bird as I am. If 

 there be that spark of feeling in your breast, which they 

 say man possesses, or ought to possess, above all other 

 animals, do a poor injured creature a little kindness, and 



s 2 



