DOWNY WOODPECKER 



157 



ten thousand that may be seen on the latter; besides the early 

 part of spring is the season when the sap flows most abundantly; 

 whereas it is only during the months of September, October and 

 November that Woodpeckers are seen so indefatigably engaged in 

 orchards, probing every crack and crevice, boring thro the bark, 

 and what is worth remarking, chiefly on the south and south-west 

 sides of the tree, for the eggs and larvae deposited there by the 

 countless swarms of summer insects. These if suffered to remain 

 would prey upon the very vitals, if I may so express it, of the tree, 

 and in the succeeding summer give birth to myriads more of their 

 race, equally destructive. 



Here then is a whole species, I may say genus, of birds, which 

 Providence seems to have formed for the protection of our fruit and 

 forest trees from the ravages of vermin; which every day destroy 

 millions of those noxious insects that would otherwise blast the 

 hopes of the husbandman; and which even promote the fertility 

 of the tree ; and in return, are proscribed by those who ought to 

 have been their protectors ; and incitements and rewards held out 

 for their destruction! Let us examine better into the operations 

 of nature, and many of our mistaken opinions, and groundless pre- 

 judices will be abandoned for more just, enlarged and humane 

 modes of thinking. 



The length of the Downy Woodpecker is six inches and three 

 quarters, and its extent twelve inches ; crown black ; hind head 

 deep scarlet ; stripe over the eye white ; nostrils thickly covered 

 with recumbent hairs or small feathers of a cream color; these, 

 as in the preceding species, are thick and bushy, as if designed 

 to preserve the forehead from injury during the violent action of 

 digging; the back is black, and divided by a lateral strip of white, 

 loose, downy, unwebbed feathers; wings black, spotted with white; 

 tail-coverts, rump and four middle feathers of the tail, black; the 

 other three on each side white, crossed with touches of black; 

 whole under parts, as well as the sides of the neck, white; the 



