186 
DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
every crack and crevice, boring tlirougli the bark, and, wliat is worth 
remarking, chiefly on the south and south-west sides of the tree, for 
the eggs and larvse deposited there, by the countless swarms of summer 
insects. These, if suffered to remain, woukl 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 Pro- 
vidence seems to have formed for the protection of our fruit and forest 
trees, from the ravages of vermin ; Avhich 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 pro- 
tectors ; 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 prejudices, 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 re- 
cumbent hairs, or small feathers, of a cream color : these, as in the 
preceding species, are thick and bush}^, 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 ; Avings black, spotted Avith white ; tail-coverts, rump, and four 
middle feathers of the tail, black ; the other three on each side white, 
crossed Avith touches of black ; whole under parts, as well as the sides 
of the neck, Avhite ; the latter marked Avith a streak of black, proceed- 
ing from the loAver mandible, exactly as in the Hairy Woodpecker ; legs 
and feet bluish green ; claAvs light blue, tipped Avith black ; tongue 
formed like that of the preceding species, horny toAvards the tip, Avhere 
for one-eighth of an inch it is barbed ; bill of a bluish horn color, 
grooved, and A^^edge-formed, like most of the genus ; eye dark hazel. 
The female wants the red on the hind-head, having that part white ; and 
the breast and belly are of a dirty white. 
This, and the two- former species, are generally denominated Sap- 
suckers ; they have also several other provincial appellations, equally 
absurd, which it may, perhaps, be more proper to suppress, than to 
sanction by repeating. 
