134 
PICUS PRINCIPALIS. 
the whole woods, as far as you can see around you, are 
dead, stripped of the hark, their wintry-looking arms 
and bare trunks bleaching* in the sun, and tumbling* in 
ruins before every blast, presenting a frightful picture 
of desolation. And yet ignorance and prejudice stub- 
bornly persist in directing their indignation against the 
bird now before us, the constant and mortal enemy of 
these very vermin, as if the hand that probed the 
wound to extract its cause, should be equally detested 
with that which inflicted it ; or as if the thief-catcher 
should be confounded with the thief. Until some 
effectual preventive or more complete mode of destruc- 
tion can be devised against these insects, and their 
larvae, I would humbly suggest the propriety of pro- 
tecting, and receiving with proper feelings of gratitude, 
the services of this and the whole tribe of woodpeckers, 
letting the odium of guilt fall to its proper owners. 
In looking over the accounts given of the ivory- 
billed woodpecker by the naturalists of Europe, I find 
it asserted, that it inhabits from New Jersey to Mexico. 
I believe, however, that few of them are ever seen to 
the north of Virginia, and very few of them even in 
that state. The first place I observed this bird at, 
when on my way to the south, was about twelve miles 
north of Wilmington in North Carolina. Having 
wounded it slightly in the wing, on being caught, it 
uttered a loudly reiterated, and most piteous note, 
exactly resembling the violent crying of a young child ; 
which terrified my horse so, as nearly to have cost me 
my life. It was distressing to hear it. I carried it 
with me in the chair, under cover, to Wilmington. In 
passing through the streets, its affecting cries surprised 
every one within hearing, particularly the females, who 
hurried to the doors and windows with looks of alarm 
and anxiety. I drove on, and, on arriving at the piazza 
of the hotel, where I intended to put up, the landlord 
came forward, and a number of other persons who 
happened to be there, all equally alarmed at what they 
heard ; this was greatly increased by my asking, whether 
he could furnish me with accommodations for myself 
