ISO PICUS ERYTHROCEPHALUS. 
because there the prying 1 eye of man is less to be 
dreaded. Towards the mountains, particularly in the 
vicinity of creeks and rivers, these birds are extremely 
abundant, especially in the latter end of summer. 
Wherever you travel in the interior at that season, you 
hear them screaming from the adjoining woods, rattling 
on the dead limbs of trees, or on the fences, where they 
are perpetually seen flitting from stake to stake, on the 
roadside, before you. Wherever there is a tree, or 
trees, of the wild cherry, covered with ripe fruit, there 
you see them busy among the branches; and, in passing 
orchards, you may easily know where to find the earliest, 
sw eetest apples, by observing those trees, on or near 
which the red-headed woodpecker is skulking ; for he 
is so excellent a connoisseur in fruit, that wherever an 
apple or pear tree is foun d broached by him, it is sure to be 
among the ripest and best flavoured : when alarmed, he 
seizes a capital one by striking his open bill deep into 
it, and bears it off to the woods. When the Indian corn 
is in its rich, succulent, milky state, he attacks it with 
great eagerness, opening a passage through the nume- 
rous folds of the husk, and feeding on it with voracity. 
The girdled, or deadened timber, so common among 
cornfields in the back settlements, are his favourite 
retreats, w hence he sallies out to make his depredations. 
He is fond of the ripe berries of the sour gum, and pays 
pretty regular visits to the cherry trees, when loaded 
with fruit. Towards fall he often approaches the barn 
or farm house, and raps on the shingles and weather 
boards : he is of a gay and frolicsome disposition ; and 
half a dozen of the fraternity are frequently seen diving 
and vociferating around the high dead limbs of some 
large tree, pursuing and playing with each other, and 
amusing the passenger with their gambols. Their note 
or cry is shrill and lively, and so much resembles that 
of a species of tree-frog, wffiich frequents the same tree, 
that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the one from 
the other. 
Such are the vicious traits, if I may so speak, in the 
character of the red-headed woodpecker ; and I doubt 
