DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
185 
of nearly the same kind of note, quickly reiterated. In fall and 
winter, he associates ■vvith the Titmouse, Creeper, &c., both in their 
wood and orchard excursions ; and usually leads the van. Of all our 
Woodpeckers, none rid the apple-trees of so many vermin as this, 
digging off the moss, which the negligence of the proprietor had 
suffered to accumulate, and probing every crevice. In fact, the orchard 
is his favorite resort in all seasons ; and his industry is unequalled, 
and almost incessant, which is more than can be said of any other 
species we have. In fall, he is particularly fond of boring the apple- 
trees for insects, digging a circular hole through the bark, just sufiBcient 
to admit his bill, after that a second, third, &c., in pretty regular 
horizontal circles round the body of the tree ; these parallel circles of 
holes are often not more than an inch, or an inch and a half, apart, and 
sometimes so close together, that I have covered eight or ten of them 
at once with a dollar. From nearly the surface of the ground, up to 
the first fork, and sometimes far beyond it, the whole bark of many apple- 
trees is perforated in this manner, so as to appear as if made by 
successive discharges of buck-shot ; and our little Woodpe-cker, the 
subject of the present account, is the principal perpetrator of this 
supposed mischief. I say supposed, for so far from these perforations 
of the bark being ruinous, they are not only harmless, but, I have good 
reason to believe, really beneficial to the health and fertility of the tree. 
I leave it to the philosophical botanist to account for this ; but the fact 
I am confident of. In more than fifty orchards, which I have myself 
carefully examined, those trees Avhich were marked by the Woodpecker 
(for some trees they never touch, perhaps because not penetrated by 
insects), were uniformly the most thriving, and seemingly the most pro- 
ductive ; many of these were upwards of sixty years old, their trunks 
completely covered with holes, while the branches were broad, luxuri- 
ant, and loaded with fruit. Of decayed trees, more than three-fourths 
were untouched by the Woodpecker. Several intelligent farmers, Avith 
whom I have conversed, candidly acknowledge the truth of these 
observations, and with justice look upon these birds as beneficial ; but 
the most common opinion is, that they bore the tree to suck the sap, 
and so destroy its vegetation ; though pine and other resinous trees, on 
the juices of which it is not pretended they feed, are often found equally 
perforated. Were the sap of the tree their object, the saccharine juice 
of the birch, the sugar-maple, and several others, would be much more 
inviting, because more sweet and nourishing, than that of either the 
pear or apple-tree ; but I have not observed one mark on the former, 
for ten thousand that may be seen on the latter ; besides, the early 
part of spring is the season when the sap flows most abundantly ; where- 
as it is only during the months of September, October, and November, 
that Woodpeckers are seen so indefatigably engaged in orchards, probing 
