564 



ZYGODACTYLI. 



tonness, in these particulars, should be so productive of 

 cruelty, devastation, and injurious policy, in regard to 

 the animals with whose amusing and useful company 

 nature has so wonderfully and beneficently favored us. 



The length of this species is about 12 inches, the alar extent 20. 

 The back and wings above are of an umber-color, transversely barred 

 with black; the upper part of the head inclines to cinereous; cheeks 

 and region round the eye cinnamon-color, the throat and chin a light- 

 er tint of the same ; from the lower mandible a strip of black de- 

 scending to the throat ; a crimson crescent on the hind head ; sides 

 of the neck bluish-grey ; a black broadish crescent on the breast. 

 Below yellowish-white, each feather with a distinct round central 

 black spot, those on the thighs and vent heart-shaped. Lower side of 

 the wing and tail, as well as the shafts of most of the larger feathers 

 golden-yellow. Rump white ; the tail-coverts white, and curiously 

 serrated with black ; upper side of the tail and tip below black, the 2 

 exterior feathers serrated with whitish ; shafts black towards the tips, 

 the 2 middle ones almost wholly so. Bill 1^ inches long, of a dusky 

 horn-color. Legs and feet light blue. Iris hazel. In the group 

 given by Audubon, the size appears somewhat smaller, the crimson 

 crescent on the hind-head much duller, the head more grey, the 

 lower mandible pale bluish, and the under side of the tail, in the male, 

 almost entirely green. Can this southern bird be the same species 

 with ours .'' 



* With the bill straight, and carinated above and beloic (proper Wood- 

 peckers). — t The feet 4-toed. 



IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. 



{Picus principalis, L. Wilson, iv. p. 20. pi. 29. fig. 1. [male.] Au- 

 dubon pi. 66. Orn. i. p. 341. [a very imposing and spirited 

 group.] Phil. Museum, No. 1884.) 



Sp. Charact. — Black; crest red and black; secondaries, rump, 

 and a stripe on each side, white ; the bill white. — In the female 

 and young the crest is wholly black. 



This large and splendid species is a native of Brazil, 

 Mexico, and the Southern States, being seldom seen to 

 the north of Virginia, and but rarely in that state. It is 

 a constant resident in the countries where it is found, in 



