AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
181 
sequently, what regards that part of their history still re- 
mains obscure. 
In America and the east they are found from six to 
seven inches in length. Their pools there abound with 
them in such numbers, that it would be dangerous bathing 
there, if from no other consideration. Even in some 
parts of Europe they increase so as to become formidable. 
Sedelius, a German physician, relates, that a girl of nine 
years old, who was keeping sheep near the city of Bomst, 
in Poland, perceiving a soldier making up to hey, went to 
hide herself in a neighbouring marsh, among some bushes; 
but the number of Leeches was so great in that place, and 
they stuck to her so close, that the poor creature expired 
from the quantity of blood which she lost by their united 
efforts. Nor is this much to be wondered at, since one of 
these insects of a large size, will draw about an ounce of 
blood. 
When Leeches are to be applied, the best way is to take 
them from the water in which they are contained, about 
an hour before, for they thus become more voracious, and 
fasten more readily. When saturated with blood, they 
generally fall off of themselves; but if it be thought ne- 
cessary to take them from the wound, care should be used 
to pull them very gently, or even to sprinkle them with 
salt, if they continue to adhere; for if they be plucked 
rudely away, it most frequently happens that they leave 
their teeth in the wound, which makes a very trouble- 
some inflammation, and is often attended with danger. 
If they be slow in fixing to the part, they are often en- 
ticed by rubbing it with milk, or blood, or water mixed 
with sugar. As salt is poison to most insects, many people 
throw it upon the Leech when it has dropped from the 
wound, which causes it to disgorge the blood it has swal- 
lowed, and it is then kept for repeated application. They 
seldom, however, stick after this operation; and, as the 
price is but small, fresh Leeches should always be applied 
whenever such an application is thought necessary. 
Buffos'. 
FLICKER, 
OR GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 
PIC US AURATUS. 
[Plate XVI. Vol. 2. on a branch of Sour Gum.] 
Le Pic cmx ailcs dorecs, Buffos, vxi. 39 . PL Enl. 
693. — Picus auratus, Lins. Syst. 174. — Cuculus 
alis de auratis, Klein, p. 30. — Catesby, i. 18. — La- 
Z z 
tham, ii. 597. — Bartram,/l 289. — Cuculus auratus, 
Linn. Syst. ed. 10, 1, 112. — Gmel. Syst. i. 430. — 
Lath. Ind. Qrn. p. 242. — Pictis Canadensis striatus, 
Briss. iv. 72. — Penn. Arct. Zool. No. 158.-^ — J. Dough- 
ty’s Collection. 
This elegant bird is well known to our farmers and ju- 
nior sportsmen, who take every opportunity of destroy- 
ing him; the former for the supposed trespasses he com- 
mits on their Indian corn, or the trifle he will bring in 
market, and the latter for the mere pleasure of destruc- 
tion, and perhaps for the flavour of his flesh, which is in 
general esteem. In the State of Pennsylvania he can 
scarcely be called a bird of passage, as even in severe 
winters they may be found within a few miles of the city 
of Philadelphia; and I have known them exposed for sale 
in market every week during the months of November, 
December, and January, and that too in more than com- 
monly rigorous weather. They, no doubt, partially mi- 
grate, even here; being much more numerous in spring 
and fall than in winter. Early in the month of April 
they begin to prepare their nest, which is built in the 
hollow body or branch of a tree, sometimes, though not 
always, at a considerable height from the ground; for I 
have frequently known them fix on the trunk of an old 
apple tree, at not more than six feet from the root. The 
sagacity of this bird in discovering, under a sound bark, 
a hollow limb or trunk of a tree, and its perseverance in 
perforating it for the purpose of incubation, are truly sur- 
prising; the male and female alternately relieving and en- 
couraging each other by mutual caresses, renewing their 
labours for several days, till the object is attained, and 
the place rendered sufficiently capacious, convenient and 
secure. At this employment they are so extremely intent, 
that they may be heard till a very late hour in the even- 
ing, thumping like carpenters. I have seen an instance 
where they had dug first five inches straight forwards, 
and then downwards more than twice that distance, through 
a solid black oak. They carry in no materials for their 
nest, the soft chips, and dust of the wood, serving for 
this purpose. The female lays six white eggs, almost 
transparent. The young early leave the nest, and, climb- 
ing to the higher branches, are there fed by their pa- 
rents. 
The food of this bird varies with the season. As the 
common cherries, bird-cherries, and berries of the sour 
gum, successively ripen, he regales plentifully on them, 
particularly on the latter; but the chief food of this spe- 
cies, or that which is most usually found in his stomach, 
is wood-lice, and the young and larvae of ants, of which 
he is so immoderately fond, that I have frequently found 
