' THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 
277 
All Woodpeckers are extremely expert at discovering insects as they lie 
under the bark of trees. No sooner have they alighted, than they stand for 
a few moments motionless and listening. If no motion is observed in the 
bark, the Woodpecker gives a smart rap with its bill, and bending its neck 
sidewise lays its head close to it, when the least crawling motion of a beetle 
or even a larva is instantly discovered, and the bird forthwith attacks the 
tree, removes the bark, and continues to dig until it reaches its prey, when 
it secures and swallows it. This manner of obtaining food is observed 
particularly during the winter, when few forest fruits are to be found. 
Should they, at this season, discover a vine loaded with grapes, they are seen 
hanging to the branches by their feet, and helping themselves with their bill. 
At this time they also resort to the corn-cribs, and feed on the corn gathered 
and laid up by the farmers. 
In Louisiana and Kentucky, the Red-headed Woodpecker rears two broods 
each year ; in the Middle Districts more usually only one. The female lays 
from two to six eggs, which are pure white and translucent, sometimes in 
holes not more than six feet from the ground, at other times as high as 
possible. The young birds have at first the upper part of the head grey, 
but towards autumn the red begins to appear. During the first winter, the 
red is seen richly intermixed with the grey feathers, and, at the approach 
of spring, scarcely any difference is perceptible between the sexes. 
The Red-headed Woodpecker is found in all parts of the United States. 
Its flesh is tough, and smells strongly of ants and other insects, so as to be 
scarcely eatable. 
An European friend of mine, on seeing some of these birds for the first 
time, as he was crossing the Alleghanies, wrote me, on reaching Pittsburg, 
that he had met with a beautiful species of Jay, the plumage of which was 
red, black and white, and its manners so gentle, that it suffered him to 
approach so near as the foot of a low tree on which it was. 
On being wounded in the wing, they cry as they fall, and continue to do 
so for many minutes after being taken, pecking at their foe with great 
vigour. If not picked up, they make to the nearest tree, and are soon out 
of reach, as they can climb by leaps of considerable length faster than can 
be imagined. The number of insects of all sorts destroyed by this bird 
alone is incalculable, and it thus affords to the husbandman a full return 
for the mischief which it commits in his garden and fields. 
In Kentucky and the Southern States, many of these birds are killed in 
the following manner. As soon as the Red-heads have begun to visit a 
cherry or an apple tree, a pole is placed along the trunk of the tree, passing 
up amongst the central branches, and extending six or seven feet beyond the 
highest twigs. The Woodpeckers alight by preference on the pole, and 
