WOODPECKERS. 
183 
Wilson gives an interesting account of a specimen wliich 
he kept for three days^ having wounded it in the wing. On 
catching it^ the bird uttered a most piteous and loudly re- 
iterated note^ resembling the crying of a young child. On 
getting to the hotel at Wilmington^ he took it upstairs, and 
locked it in his room. In less than an hour I returned : 
and, on opening the door, he set up the same distressing 
shout, which now appeared to proceed from grief that he 
had been discovered in his attempts at escape. He had 
mounted along the side of the window, nearly as high as 
the ceiling, a little below which he had begun to break 
through. The bed was covered with large pieces of plaster ; 
the lath was exposed for at least fifteen inches square, and 
a hole large enough to admit the fist, opened to the weather 
boards ; so that in less than another hour he would certainly 
have succeeded in making his way through. I now tied a 
string round his leg, and, fastening it to the table, again 
left him. I wished to preserve his life, and had gone off 
in search of suitable food for him. As I re-ascended the 
stairs, I heard him again hard at work ; and, on entering, had 
the mortification to perceive that he had almost entirely 
ruined the mahogany table to which he was fastened, and 
on which he had wreaked his whole vengeance. While en-« 
