28 
RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 
in the interior, at that season, you hear them screaming from the 
adjoining woods, rattling on the dead limbs of trees or on the 
fences, where they are perpetually seen flitting from stake to 
stake, on the road side before you. Wherever there is a tree, 
or trees, of the wild-cherry, covered with ripe fruit, there you 
see them busy among the branches; and in passing orchards, 
you may easily know where to find the earliest, sweetest apples, 
by observing those trees, on or near which the Red-headed 
Woodpecker is skulking; for he is so excellent a connoisseur in 
fruit, that wherever an apple or pear is found broached by him, 
it is sure to be among the ripest and best flavoured. When alarm- 
ed, he seizes a capital one by striking his open bill deep into it, 
and bears it off to the woods. When the Indian corn is in its 
rich, succulent, milky state, he attacks it with great eagerness, 
opening a passage through the numerous folds of the husk, and 
feeding on it with voracity. The girdled, or deadened timber, 
so common among corn-fields, in the back settlements, are his 
favourite retreats, whence he sallies out to make his depredations. 
He is fond of the ripe berries of the sour gum; and pays pretty 
regular visits to the cherry-trees, when loaded with fruit. To- 
wards Fall, he often approaches the barn, or farm-house, and 
raps on the shingles and weather-boards. He is of a gay and 
frolicksome disposition; and half a dozen of the fraternity are 
frequently seen diving and vociferating around the high dead 
limbs of some large tree, pursuing and playing with each other, 
and amusing the passenger with their gambols. Their note or 
ciy is shrill and lively, and so much resembles that of a species 
of tree frog, which frequents the same tree, that it is sometimes 
difficult to distinguish the one from the other. 
Such are the vicious traits, if I may so speak, in the character 
of the Red-headed Woodpecker; and 1 doubt not but from what 
has been said on this subject, that some readers would consider 
it meritorious to exterminate the whole tribe, as a nuisance; and 
in fact the legislatures of some of our provinces, in former times, 
offered premiums, to the amount of twopence per head, for their 
