150 



HAIRY WOODPECKER. 

 PICUS riLLOSUS. 

 [Plate IX.—Fig. 3.] 



Picus villosus^ Linn. Syst. I, 175, 16. — Pic chevelu de Firginie, Buff on VII, 74. — Pic 

 varie male de Firginie, PI. enl. 754. — Hairy Woodpecker, Catesb. I, 19, jig. 2. — ^Arct, 

 Zool. II, JVo. 164.— Lath. Syn. II, 572, 18. Id. Sup. 108.— Peale's Museum, JVo. 1988. 



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 larvse 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 himself. 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 downwards, obtusely, for 

 twice that distance ; carrying up the chips with his bill, and scrap- 

 ing 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 

 farm-house and skirts of the town. In Philadelphia I have many 

 times observed them examining old ragged trunks of the willow 

 and poplar, while people were passing immediately below. Their 

 cry is strong, shrill and tremulous ; they have also a single note 

 or chuck, which they often repeat, in an eager manner, as they hop 

 about and dig into the crevices of the tree. They inhabit the con- 

 tinent from Hudson^s bay to Carolina and Georgia. 



