HAIRY WOODPECKER. 
155 
HAIRY WOODPECKER. — PICUS VILLOSUS. 
Plate IX. Fig. 3. 
Picus villosus, Linn. Syst. i. 175, 16. — Pic chevelu de Yirginie, JBuffon, vii. 7 — 
Pic vari£ male de Virginie, PI. enl. 754. — Hairy Woodpecker, Catesb. i. 19. fig. 
2. — Arct. Zool. ii. No. 164 Lath. Syn. ii. 572, 18. Id. Sup. 108. — Peale's 
Museum , No. 1988. 
DENDROCOPUS VILLOSUS. — Swainson. 
Picus villosus, Bonap. Synop. p. 46 Wagl. Syst. Av. Picus , 22. — Dendrocopus 
villosus, North. Zool. ii. p. 305. 
This is another of our resident birds, and, like the former, 
a haunter of orchards, and borer of apple trees, an eager 
hunter of insects, their eggs and larvae, in old stumps and old 
rails, in rotten branches and crevices of the bark ; having all 
the characters of the Woodpecker strongly marked. In the 
month of May he retires with his mate to the woods, and 
either seeks out a branch already hollow, or cuts out an 
opening for himself. In the former case I have known his 
nest more than five feet distant from the mouth of the hole 
and in the latter he digs first horizontally, if in the body of 
the tree, six or eight inches, and then downward, obtusely, 
for twice that distance ; carrying up the chips with his bill, 
and scraping them out with his feet. They also not unfre- 
quently choose the orchard for breeding in, and even an old 
stake of the fence, which they excavate for this purpose. The 
female lays five white eggs, and hatches in June. This 
species is more numerous than the last in Pennsylvania, and 
more domestic ; frequently approaching the farm-house and 
skirts of the town. In Philadelphia I have many times 
observed them examining old ragged trunks of the willow and 
poplar while people were passing immediately below. Their 
cry is strong, shrill, and tremulous ; they have also a single 
note, or chuck , which they often repeat, in an eager manner, 
as they hop about, and dig into the crevices of the tree. They 
