PICUS niger maximus capite rubro: The larger red-crested Wood-pecker. Weighs nine ounces: the Bill angular two inches long, of a lead colour:
the Neck is small; the Iris of the eye gold colour, encompassed
with a lead-colour'd skin: the whole Crown of the Head is adorn'd
with large scarlet crest; under which, and from the eyes back, runs
a narrow white line, and under that a broad black lift: a patch
of red covers some of the lower mandible of the Bill and Neck; the
rest of the Neck (except the hind-part, which is black) of a pale
yellow, with a small stripe of black dividing it: the upper part
of the exterior vanes of the Quill-feathers is white; above which,
on the edge of the Wing, is a white spot or two: on the middle of
the Back is a broad white spot all the rest of the upper part of
the Body and Tail black: the under part of the Body of a dusky black.
That which distinguishes the Cock from the Hen, is the red which
covers some part of his under jaw, which in the Hen is black. And
whereas the whole Crown of the Cock is red, in the Hen the Fore-head
is brown. These Birds (besides Insects, which they get from rotten
trees, their usual food) are destructive to Maiz, by pecking Holes
through the husks that inclose the grain, and letting in wet.
Quercus sempervivens foliis oblongis non sinuatis. D. Banister:
The Live Oak.
The usual Height of the Live Oak is about 40 foot; the Grain of
the wood course, harder and tougher than any other Oak. Upon the
edges of Salt-Marshes (where they usually grow) they arrive to a
large size. Their Bodies are irregular, and generally lying along,
occasioned by the looseness and moisture of the soil, and tides
washing their roots bare. On higher lands they grow erect, with
a regular pyramidal-shaped Head, retaining their leaves all the
year. The Acorns are the sweetest of all others; of which the Indians
usually lay up store, to thicken their venison-soop, and prepare
them other ways. They likewise draw an oil, very pleasant and wholesom,
little inferior to that of Almonds.
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