HAIRY WOODPECKER. 
575 
HAIRY WOODPECKER 
( Ficus villosus , L. Wilson, Am. Orn. i. p. 150. pi. 9. fig. 3. 
[male]. Phil. Museum, No. 1988.) 
Sp. Charact. — Varied with black and white; beneath white; 
the back clothed with long, slender, loose feathers ; outer tail- 
feathers white, and spotless. — Male , with a red occipital band 
which in the female is black. 
This common species is a resident in most parts of 
America from Hudson’s Bay to Florida, being more 
numerous than the last, and more familiar ; frequently 
approaching the cottage or the skirts of the town. It 
is likewise much attached to orchards, an active borer 
of their trunks, and >an eager hunter after insects and 
larvae in all kinds of decayed wood, even to stumps and 
the rails of the fences. In the month of May, like 
the last, accompanied by his mate he seeks out the 
seclusion of the woods, and taking possession of a hol- 
low branch, or cutting out a cavity anew, he forms his 
nest in a deep and secure cavern ; though sometimes a 
mere stake of the fence answers the purpose. The eggs, 
about 5, white as usual, are hatched in June. Their 
call consists in a shrill and rattling whistle, heard to a 
considerable distance. They also give out a single 
querulous note of recognition while perambulating the 
trunks for food. 
The length of this species is about 9 inches, the alar extent 15. 
The crown black Wings black, tipt and spotted with white. The 
2 exterior feathers of the tail white, terminating in an umber tint. 
Legs and feet greyish-blue. Bill bluish-horn color, straight, about 
1| inches long. 
