a 



146 RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



dark hazel; total length nine inches and a half^ extent seventeen 

 inches. The figure on the plate was drawn and colored from a 

 very elegant living specimen. 



Notwithstanding the care which this bird^ in common with 

 the rest of its genus, takes to place its young beyond the reach of 

 enemies, within the hollows of trees ; yet there is one deadly foe, 

 against whose depredations neither the height of the tree, nor the 

 depth of the cavity, is the least security. This is the Black snake 

 (Coluber constrictor), who frequently glides up the trunk of the 

 tree, and like a skulking savage enters the Woodpecker's peaceful 

 apartment, devours the eggs or helpless young, in spite of the criesr 

 and flutterings of the parents; and, if the place be large enough, 

 coils himself up in the spot they occupied, where he will sometimes 

 remain for several days. The eager school-boy after hazarding 

 his neck to reach the Woodpecker's hole, at the triumphant mo- 

 ment when he thinks the nestlings his own, and strips his arm, 

 launching it down into the cavity, and grasping what he conceives 

 to be the callow young, starts with horror at the sight of a hideous 

 snake, and almost drops from his giddy pinnacle, retreating down 

 the tree with terror and precipitation. Several adventures of this 

 kind have come to my knowledge; and one of them that was at- 

 tended with serious consequences ; where both snake and boy fell 

 to the ground; and a broken thigh, and long confinement, cured 

 the adventurer completely of his ambition for robbing Woodpeck- 

 er's nests. 



