Page [38]

SPECIES 7. PIC US P UBESCENS.
               DOWNY WOODPECKER.
                   [Plate IX.-Fig. 4.]
Picus pubescens, LINN. Syst. i, 175, 15.-GMEL. Syist. I, 435.-
  Petit Pic varie de Virginie, BUFFON, VII, 76.--Snallest Wood-
  pecker, CATESB. I, 21.-.Lrct. Zool. II, No. 165.-Little Wood-
  pecker, LATH. Syn. II, 573, 19. Id. Sup. 109.-PEALE'S mIuseum,
  .No. 1986.
  THIS is the smallest of our Woodpeckers, and so exactly re-
sembles the former in its tints and markings, and in almost
every thing, except its diminutive size, that I wonder how it
passed through the count de Buffon's hands, without being
branded as "a spurious race, degenerated by the influence of
food, climate, or some unknown cause." But though it has
escaped this infamy, charges of a much more heinous nature
have been brought against it, not only by the writer above men-
tioned, but by the whole venerable body of zoologists in Eu-
rope, who have treated of its history, viz. that it is almost con-
stantly boring and digging into apple-trees; and that it is the
most destructive of its whole genus to the orchards. The first
part of this charge I shall not pretend to deny; how far the other
is founded in truth, will appear in the sequel. Like the two
former species, it remains with us the whole year. About the
middle of May, the male and female look out for a suitable
place for the reception of their eggs and young. An apple, pear
or cherry tree, often in the near neighbourhood of the farm-
house, is generally pitched upon for this purpose. The tree is
minutely reconnoitred for several days, previous to the opera-
tion, and the work is first begun by the male, who cuts out a
hole in the solid wood, as circular as if described with a pair of