54 BIRDS OF P. If. ISLAND

from trunk to trunk and demurely digging for their insect prey. lut when the brightening suns of March gleam o’er the forest, they mount the hollow beech trees and, with a vigorous rap, rap— ping, make the naked wood-land ring. Like those of all \Voodpeckers, their eggs are pure white. They are six in number, placed in a nest— hole excavated in the solid timber of lofty trees.

The great Black \\'oodpecker, or Logcock, is a lonely bird of the forest, but rarely seen now in the cleared state of our country. It is fifteen inches in length, mostly black in color, with a scarlet crest. It is a powerful wood—cutter, and the amount of chips that it will knock out of a decayed stump which it supposes to contain a meal of grubs, is something astonishing.

'l'he Yellow-bellied Woodpecker (Sf/zyro/Jz'ms warms), with its beautifully varied plumage, is the Sapsucker which is sometimes thoughtless enough to strip the bark off orchard trees for the sake of obtaining the sweet camhium which lies next the wood.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker is a southern bird which occasionally wanders here in mid—summer.

The Golden - winged Woodpecker (Cola/M’s aural/u)