312 



LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



I. COLAPTES 



(A) AURATUS. Golden-winged Woodpecker. Pigeon Wood- 

 pecker. " Flicker." " High-hole." " YeUotv-shafled Wood- 

 pecker." " Telloiv-hammer." (Also eight other names.) 



(In Massachusetts, a common summer-resident, but much 

 less abundant in winter.) 



(a). About 12^ inches long. Above, umber brown, black- 

 barred ; tail and primaries, 

 chiefl}' black ; rmnp, white. 

 Crown and nape, dark 

 gray, with a scarlet cres- 

 cent behind. Throat, and 

 upper breast, cinnamon or 

 " lilac-brown ;" the latter 

 with a black crescent, and 

 ^ with a black maxillary 

 patch. Under parts, oth- 

 erwise white, variously 

 tinged, and black-spotted. 

 Wivgs and tail, (chiefly) 

 hright yelloiu beneath. 



(b). The nests of our 

 various woodpeckers differ 

 but little except in size 

 or situation. The}' always 

 consist of a hole, gener- 

 all}' excavated by the birds themselves in a tree, or rarely a 

 post, which maj' be either sound or rotten. They are usually 

 made more than six feet from the ground, and more often in a 

 trunk than in a limb. They vary in length from six to even 

 forty inches, and are enlarged near the bottom, though rarely 

 or never lined. They arc not always straight, but the entrance 

 is almost invariably round, unless arched, as is often the case 

 with those of the present species. No nests require more pa- 

 tience in construction than these; yet they are, in their way, 

 master-pieces, being smooth, s^'mmetrical, and, as it were, 

 highly finished. 



Fig. 18. Golden-winged Woodpecker (J). 



