The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-02-29
From the .Ns,O England Farmer.
WORKS OF A WOODPECKER.

WORKS OF A WOODPECKER.
James Villa, Esq, of Bedford, (Mass.) ha
left in our office a sample of the labors c
the Red-headed Foodpec.er, (Picus erythrO
ce0itnIus) which exhibits "A curious specime
of the power and industry Of that little ami
NAL. This consists of the branch of youn,
tough white oak, between two and tire
inches in diameter, perforated TO its centr
! Ivy the bill of the bird. The hole is as nea
and well defined as could have been mortis
ed by mallet and chsel. The object O
the woodpecker, in this performance, was
evidently, the attainment OF worm. proba
bly, one of the species Of the borer which s,
often attacks the apple tree The. worn
had made hole in the branch about the
size of goose quill, four or five inches be-
low the place geuged out by the bird, and
was proceeding upwards when the wood
pecker broke in upon and devoured the dep.
redator. That this little despised workman
viz, the red-headed woodpecker, with his
head for mallet and his bill for a chsel
should make such perioration is more
wonderful than the structure of the Pyra.
mids or the Pantheon. Yet bows and other
bipeds, who think they have some claims ia
respectabilty, are in the habit of numbering
IwQodpeckers without proyocatlon and with
out remorse
Mr.. Cornelius Cowing Of Roxbnry, once
Informed us that he found in the stomach OF
woodpecker no less Slan twenty-tbree
borers, which had been recently extracted.
The tongue of this bird is sharp pointed and
bearded, on which he impales the insects
which reward his labors. The efforts of
the woodpecker, however, are often misun-
derstood, and they ale stoned or shot for
their good deeds by the stupid blpeds in
whose service they are engaged. The per-
forations they make to extract insects are,
by some, thought to inure the tree which
they are Kidding of the worm in its vitals,
and death is the reward which ignorance
inhicts on its benefactors.
Mr.. Nuttall, in his Ornithology, in speak
ing of the habits Of this bird, observes that
"The ancient live oak, his cradle and resi-
dence, is cherished as domicll he creeps
around its ponderous withered arms, views
the passing scene with complacence, turns
every insect to his advantage, and for hours
together, placidly reconnotres the sur
rounding fields; at times, he leaves his lofty
citadel to examine the rails of the fence, or
the boards of the adjoining barn; striking
terror into his lurking prey by the stridu-
lous tappings of his bill. he hearkens to
their almost inaudible movements, and, dis
covering their retreat, dislodges them from
their burrows by quickly and deXteronsly
chlseling out the decuving wood in which
they are hid. and TRANSMITTING them with bis
sharp and baroed tongue. But his taverite
and most productive retreat is to the adjoin-
ing fields of dead and glrGled trees; amidst
whose bleaching trunks and crumhling
branches, he long continues to find an ample
repast of depredating and boring insects.
When the cravings of appetite are satisfied,
our busy hunter occasionally gives way to a
frolicsome or quarrelsome disposition, and,
with shril and lively voriferations. not I'M
like those of the neighboring tree frog, he
puisues. in graceful curving flight, his
companions or rivals round the bare limbs
Of some dead tree to which they resort for
combat or frolic."
THE ARCTIC Snow WHIRL. 1t was in the
northernmost region Of Greenland, where
the depressed and flattened earth slopes
suddenly towards its pole, that a youthful
and lovely couple were walking on the in
crusted top of ensulled snow. How deep
its piles lay beneath them they knew not,
nor cared they, as its even surface was a
floor Of such dazzling beauty that angels
might have delighted to wander over it with
their prntless feet. This youthful pair,
Gielgudoc and Wilhelmina, were betrothed
to each other, and the period of their mar
riage ceremony approached. They both
had learned the love Of Jesus from the lips
&c 4
its sOftening refining influences cast sweet
and lovely tints all over the texture of their
characters, like an immortal drdpery thrown
with an unstudied grace around their forms
of moral beauty.
Dressed in the softest furs of the arctic
circle, they walked northward, ann in arm,
and seemed TO leave the world behind them,
as they descended towards the cold abiding
place Of the earth's polarity. The sun lay
with its milky, thin radiance, low in the
south, and their shadows struck off tall and
gigantic before, and often times seemed to
he reflected reversed in the purple medium
above them-a couple walking in heaven.
Bot, oh, how celestial was their converse
ton! Never before had the sweetness of
the better world so settled down over their
souls like cloud of incense; never hefure
had theinexpressble love of their Redeemer
so filled and overpowered their hearts,
When last seen by reindeer hunter, they
appeared to be IN ecstacy, casting their
hands upwards in alteration, and filling the
air with the rich tones of a song of Chris
tan triumph. Thus onward they walked
too happy to think of the world which they
seemed to be leaving for ever.
Suddenly shadow crossed the sun; they
turned and saw an immense pillar of white
reaching from earth deep into the heavens
it was moving nortaward, and soon they
heard its thunder, that seemed to shake the
throne of the continent.
Our marriage hour approaches cries
Gielgudoc; we shall unite to part no more
Welcome --welcome--cries Wihelmina
yonder is the white wedding garments Of
our mortality, while far above the storms OF
earth shine the wedding garment of onl
marriage with the Lamb! They were
locked in each others arms, while the terri
BILE pyramid, intense with its laundering
gyrations, walked in bowling terror behind
them. Il was as if thousand strong and
tremendous serpents convolved in morta
agony, plonghing to the bottom of the deer
SHOWS, and writing ore horrible fold upon
another with the force and rapidty of the
chain lightning, while high and gloomy
above their internal action rose the clouds
that would have yelled such unearthly ma
chinery from the eyes of man. On-on il
passes; it was the roaring grave Of the de
voted par-yet onward still it passes anC
BOWED away where there was 10 earthly
ear to quail under its trumpetngs. 1t rem