YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKEH. 157 
*^*>queiitly perforate the timber in pursuit of thpe 
^^fmin, but this is almost always in dead and decaying 
of the tree, which are the nests and nurseries of 
IJ'.Uions of destructive insects. Considering matters in 
3 light, I do not think their services overpaid by all 
Cars 'of Indian corn they consume; and w'ould 
•"■“tect them, within my own premises, as being more 
'***fnl than injurious. 
ficus FASIUS, LISNJECS. —YELLOW-BELMEI. WOODrECKEB. 
''■tSOK, PL. IX. FIG. n.— ADULT MALE. —EDINBURGH COLLEGE 
MUSEUM. 
, This beautiful species is one of our resident birds 
‘‘visits our orchards in the month ot October in great 
Vbers, is occasionally seen during the whole winter 
mnn<r but seems to seek the depths of the forest, 
rear its young in; for during summer it is rarely 
amon-- our settlements ; and even m the inter- 
"Jviliate woods I have seldom met with it in that season, 
o'cordiu'"- to Brisson it inhabits the continent from 
Wemie'’to Virginia; and I may add, as far as to 
*;ddson’s Bay, where, according to Hutchins, they are 
i ded Meltsewe Paitpastaow* they are also common 
" the states of Kentucky and Ohio, and have been 
in the neiffhbourhood of St Louis, 
>'*ekoned bv Georgi among the birds that frequent the 
BaikaT, in Asia,f but their existence there has not 
satisfactorily ascertained. ^ * 1 . 
), The habits of this species are similar to those of the 
^»-y and downy woodpeckers, vntli which it generally 
^heiates The only nest of this bird which I have 
with was in the'body of an old pear-tree, about ten 
eleven feet from the groinid. The hole vv^is almost 
i^^etly circular, smaU for the size of the bird, so that 
‘‘evept in and out with difficulty; but suddenly 
^’dened, descending by a smaU angle and then rounding 
f Ibid, 
* Latbam. 
