RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 



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on the road side before you. Wherever there is a tree, or trees, 

 of the wild cherry, covered with ripe fruit, there you see them busy 

 among the branches ; and in passing orchards you may easily know 

 where to find the earliest, sweetest apples, by observing those trees, 

 on or near which the Red-headed W oodpecker is skulking j for he 

 is so excellent a connoisseur in fruit, that wherever an apple or 

 pear is found broached by him, it is sure to be among the ripest 

 and best flavored. When alarmed, he seizes a capital one by 

 striking his open bill deep into it, and bears it off to the woods. 

 When the Indian corn is in its rich, succulent, milky state, he at- 

 tacks it with great eagerness, opening a passage thro the numerous 

 folds of the husk, and feeding on it with voracity. The girdled, 

 or deadened timber, so common among corn fields in the back set- 

 tlements, are his favorite retreats, whence he sallies out to make 

 his depredations. He is fond of the ripe berries of the sour gum; 

 and pays pretty regular visits to the cherry-trees, when loaded with 

 fruit. Towards Fall he often approaches the barn or farm house, 

 and raps on the shingles and weather boards. He is of a gay and 

 frolicksome disposition ; and half a dozen of the fraternity are fre- 

 quently seen diving and vociferating around the high dead limbs 

 of some large tree, pursuing and playing with each other, and 

 amusing the passenger with their gambols. Their note or cry is 

 shrill and lively, and so much resembles that of a species of tree- 

 frog which frequents the same tree, that it is sometimes difficult to 

 distinguish the one from the other. 



Such are the vicious traits, if I may so speak, in the character 

 of the Red-headed Woodpecker; and I doubt not but from what 

 has been said on this subject, that some readers would consider 

 it meritorious to exterminate the whole tribe as a nuisance ; and 

 in fact the legislatures of some of our provinces, in former times, 

 offered premiums to the amount of twopence per head for their 

 destruction.^ But let us not condemn the species unheard. They 



* Kalm. 



