SOUTH AMERICA. 
121 
bigger than the wren. They are all beautiful; and second 
the greater part of them have their heads ornamented J ' T R 
with a fine crest, movable at pleasure. 
It is said, if you once give a dog a bad name, 
whether innocent or guilty, he never loses it. It 
sticks close to him wherever he goes. He has many 
a kick and many a blow to bear on account of it; 
and there is nobody to stand up for him. The 
woodpecker is little better off. The proprietors of 
woods, in Europe, have long accused him of injuring 
their timber, by boring holes in it, and letting in the 
water, which soon rots it. The colonists in America 
have the same complaint against him. Had he the 
pow r er of speech, which Ovid’s birds possessed in 
days of yore, he could soon make a defence. 
“ Mighty lord of the woods,” he would say to man, 
u why do you wrongfully accuse me ? why do you 
hunt me up and down to death for an imaginary 
offence ? I have never spoiled a leaf of your pro¬ 
perty, much less your wood. Your merciless shot 
strikes me, at the very time I am doing you a service. 
But your shortsightedness will not let you see it, or 
your pride is above examining closely the actions of 
so insignificant a little bird as I am. If there be 
that spark of feeling in your breast, which they say 
man possesses, or ought to possess, above all other 
animals, do a poor injured creature a little kindness, 
and w T atch me in your wrnods only for one day. I 
never wound your healthy trees. I should perish 
for want in the attempt. The sound bark would 
easily resist the force of my bill: and were I even 
