246 
HAIRY WOODPECKER, 
seldom that more than the members of a family are seen together, and even 
this only until the young are able to provide for themselves. The migratory 
species, on the contrary, are frequently observed to congregate upon trees 
laden with fruit. This never happens with the Hairy, Downy, Yellow- 
bellied, Red-bellied, Canada, or Three-toed Woodpeckers; among some of 
which, however, a certain change of locality takes place from south to north 
and backwards, within the limits of the United States, in spring and autumn. 
The Hairy Woodpecker feeds on the larvae of most insects, as well as on 
the insects themselves. It sometimes launches into the air after a passing 
one, as indeed is the case with all the Woodpeckers with which I am at 
present acquainted, although the larger species are less addicted to this 
mode of pursuing their prey than the smaller. In autumn it frequently 
feeds on berries near the ground, or on grasses and other fruits among the 
tops of our tall trees. Its notes are sharp, loud, and at times rolling, like 
those of others of our smaller species, but frequently uttered singly whilst 
it is moving on wing or along a tree. 
The hole which it forms for receiving its eggs seldom exceeds two feet in 
depth, after diverging from its first horizontal direction, sometimes running 
perpendicularly, but often obliquely. In the Southern States two broods 
are frequently reared in the season ; the first being seen abroad in May, 
the other in the end of July or the beginning of August. In the 
Middle Districts it rarely produces more than one brood. I have regularly 
observed that those pairs which had two broods in Louisiana, raised both in 
the same nest, and that not unfrequently within a few yards of a house. 
The eggs of the first hatch are usually six, of the second four. In the 
Middle Districts the number varies from four to six, and in two instances 
I found seven. They measure 1 inch in length by 5J eighths in breadth, 
are elliptical or almost equally rounded at both ends, smooth, pure white, 
and translucent. The young remain about the nest until well able to fly, 
as is the case with those of other species. 
Various writers state that the Hairy Woodpecker has been found in 
England ; but this is very doubtful, and at present it does not seem that 
there are any well authenticated instances. 
I have figured a male and a female ; the latter, I believe, not having 
previously been represented. 
Hairy Woodpecker, Ficus villosus, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 150. 
Picus villosus, Bonap. Syn., p. 46. 
Hairy AVoodpecker, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 575. 
Hairy Woodpecker, Picus villosus, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 164. 
Male, 8f, 14£. Female, 8£, 15. 
