HAIRY WOODPECKER. 
245 
The Hairy Woodpecker, P. villosus , is a constant resident in our mari- 
time and inland districts, from the Texas, where I have found it numerous, 
to the State of New Hampshire, as well as in all sufficiently wooded tracts 
intervening between the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi, and the 
northern borders of our great lakes. But not a single individual of this 
species could I or my sons procure in the State of Maine, where, however, 
the larger species, P. canadensis , was quite abundant, and from whence it 
extends its migrations “ as far north,” according to Dr. Richardson, “as the 
sixty-third parallel.” “ It remains,” he continues, “ all the year in the Fur 
Countries, and is the most common species up to the fifty- sixth degree of 
latitude, north of which it yields in frequency to the three-toed species.” 
Lively, noisy, and careless of man, the Hairy Woodpecker is found at all 
seasons in the orchards, among the trees of our cities, along the borders of 
plantations, on the fences, or on the trees left in the fields, as well as in the 
densest parts of the forests. Nay, reader, I have found this species, when in 
company with my friend Harris and my youngest son, in the very midst 
of vast salt-marshes, about the mouths of the Mississippi, where here and 
there a straggling willow or cotton-tree bush occurred, as gay, busy, noisy, 
and contented as if it had been in the midst of the woods. In such locali- 
ties it alights against the stalks of the largest and tallest reeds, and per- 
forates them as it is wont to bore into trees. 
In almost all parts of the Southern States, it becomes in winter one of the 
most familiar species, and, like the Downy Woodpecker, comes to the yard 
to glean the grains of corn left by the cattle. There it may be seen hopping 
on the ground, among Turtle Doves, Cardinal Grosbeaks, Red-bellied Wood- 
peckers, and several species of Blackbirds. At this season, its visits to the 
corn-cribs are extremely frequent; and curious indeed do the shrill notes of 
this lively and industrious bird sound in the ear of the person who chances 
to surprise it within the crib, from which it makes off, passing swiftly, 
perhaps within a foot or so of his hand. But no sooner has its escape been 
effected than it will alight close by, on the top of a fence-stake, and chuck 
aloud as if in merriment. I have often observed it clinging to the stalks of 
the sugar-cane, boring them, and apparently greatly enjoying the sweet 
juices of that plant; and when I have seen it, in severe winter weather, 
attempting to bore the dried stalks of maize, I have thought it expected to 
find in them something equally pleasing to its taste. Like all our other 
species, it clings, when shot, to the trunk or branch of the tree, until quito 
dead, and even remains sticking for several minutes more. 
The flight of this species is usually short, though rapid, in this respect 
agreeing with that of some others allied to it, which are constant residents 
in the United States, and differing from that of the migratory species. It is 
