566 
ZYGODACTYLI. 
late round the roots of the tall pine and cypress where 
he has been a few hours employed ; the work of half a 
dozen men, felling trees for a whole morning, would 
scarcely exceed the pile he has produced in quest of a 
single breakfast upon those insect larvae which have al- 
ready, perhaps, succeeded in deadening the tree prepara- 
tory to his repast. Many thousand acres of pine trees, in 
the Southern States, have been destroyed in a single sea- 
son by the insidious attacks of insects, which in the dor- 
mant state are not larger than a grain of rice. It is in 
quest of these enemies of the most imposing part of the 
vegetable creation that the industrious and indefatigable 
Woodpecker exercises his peculiar labor. In the sound 
and healthy tree he finds nothing which serves him for 
food. 
One of these birds, which Wilson wounded, survived 
with him nearly three days, but was so savage and uncon- 
querable as to refuse all sustenance. When taken, he 
uttered a loud and piteous reiterated complaint, almost 
exactly like the violent crying of a young child ; and on 
being left alone in a tavern, in the course of an hour, he 
had nearly succeeded in making his way through the 
side of the wooden house. He also cut the author severe- 
ly in several places while engaged in drawing his portrait, 
and displayed, as long as he survived, the unconquerable 
spirit of a genuine son of the forest. From his magnan- 
imous courage and ardent love of liberty, the head and 
bill are in high esteem among the amulets of the southern 
Indians. 
The nest of this species is usually made in the living 
trunk of the cypress tree, at a considerable height, both 
sexes alternately engaging in the labor. The excavation 
is said to be two or more feet in depth. The eggs, 4 or 
5, are white, and nearly of equal thickness at either end. 
