DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
41 
the bark, just sufficient 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 an 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 ap- 
ple-trees are perforated in this manner, so as to appear as if made 
by successive discharges of buck-shot; and our little Woodpeck- 
er, 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 harm- 
less, 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 exami- 
ned, those trees which 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 productive; many of these were upwards of sixty years 
old, their trunks completely covered with holes, while the 
branches were broad, luxuriant, and loaded with fruit. Of de- 
cayed trees, more than three-fourths were untouched by the 
Woodpecker. Several intelligent farmers, with 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 resi- 
nous 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 thou- 
sand that may be seen on the latter; besides, the early part of 
spring is the season when the sap flows most abundantly; where- 
VOL. II. — F 
