DOWNY WOODPECKER. 
165 
nearly the surface of the ground up to the first fork, 
and sometimes far beyond it, the whole bark of many 
apple-trees is perforated in this manner, so as to appear 
as if made by successive discharges of buck-shot ; and 
our little woodpecker, the subject of the present ac- 
count, is the principal perpetrator of this supposed 
mischief, — I say supposed, for so far from these perfo- 
rations of the bark being ruinous, they are not only 
harmless, but, I have good reason to believe, really 
beneficial to the health and fertility of the tree. I 
leave it to the philosophical botanist to account for 
this,* but the fact I am confident of. In more than 
fifty orchards which I have myself carefully examined, 
those trees which were marked by the woodpecker 
(for some trees they never touch, perhaps because 
not penetrated by insects,) were uniformly the most 
thriving, and seemingly the most productive ; many of 
these were upwards of sixty years old, their trunks 
completely covered with holes, while the branches 
were broad, luxuriant, and loaded with fruit. Of 
decayed trees, more than three-fourths were untouched 
by the woodpecker. Several intelligent farmers, with 
whom I have conversed, candidly acknowledge the truth 
of these observations, and with justice look upon these 
birds as beneficial ; but the most common opinion is, 
that they bore the trees to suck the sap, and so destroy 
its vegetation; though pine and other resinous trees, 
on the juices of which it is not pretended they feed, 
are often found equally perforated. Were the sap of 
the tree their object, the saccharine juice of the birch, 
the sugar maple, and several others, would be much 
more inviting, because more sweet and nourishing than 
that of either the pear or apple-tree ; but I have not 
observed one mark on the former for ten thousand that 
may be seen on the latter ; besides, the early part of 
spring is the season when the sap flows most abun- 
dantly ; whereas it is only during the months of Sep- 
tember, October, and November, that woodpeckers are 
seen so indefatigably engaged in orchards, probing 
every crack and crevice, boring through the bark, and 
