The Canadian TVoodj^ecJccrs. 181 



son of the forest in his exertions for liberty ; and he exeroised his powerful 

 bill with such force, digging into the sticks, seizing and shaking them so 

 from side to side, that he soon opened for himself a passage ; and, though I 

 repeatedly repaired the breach, and barricaded every opening, in the best 

 manner I could, yet, on my return into the room, I always found him at 

 large, climbing up the chairs, or running about the floor, where, from the 

 dexterity of his motions, moving backward, forward, and sidewise, with the 

 same facility, it became difiicult to get hold of him again. Having placed 

 him in a strong wire cage, he seemed to give up all hopes of making his 

 escape, and soon became very tame ; fed on young ears of Indian corn ; 

 refused apples, but ate the berries of the sour gum greedily, small winter 

 grapes, and several other kinds of berries ; exercised himself frequently in 

 climbing, or rather hopping perpendicularly along the sides of the cage ; and, 

 as evening drew on, fixed himself in a high hanging, or perpendicular position, 

 and slept with his head in his wing. As soon as dawn appeared, even before 

 it was light enough to perceive him distinctly across the room, he descended 

 to the bottom of the cage, and began his attack on the ears of Indian corn, 

 rapping so loud, as to be heard from every room in the house. After this, 

 he would sometimes resume his former position, and take another nap. He 

 was beginning to become very amusing, and even sociable, when after a lapse 

 of several weeks, he became drooping, and died, as I conceived, from the 

 effects of his wound." 



The following is a more full description of the plumage of this bird : — 

 " The Gold-winged Woodpecker has the back and wings above of a 

 dark umber, transversely marked with equidistant streaks of black ; upper 

 part of the head, an iron gray ; cheeks and parts surrounding the eyes, a fine 

 cinnamon color ; from the lower mandible a strip of black, an inch in length, 

 passes down each side of the throat, and a lunated spot, of a vivid blood red, 

 covers the hind head, its two points reaching within half an inch of each 

 eye ; the sides of the neck, below this, incline to a bluish gray ; throat and 

 chin, a very light cinnamon or fawn color ; the breast is ornamented with a 

 broad crescent of deep black ; the belly and vent, white, tinged with yellow, 

 and scattered with innumerable round spots of black, every feather having a 

 distinct central spot, those on the thighs and vent being heart-shaped and 

 largest ; the lower or inner side of the wing and tail, shafts of all the larger 

 feathers, and indeed of almost of every feather, are of a beautiful golden 

 yellow ; that on the shafts of the primaries being very distinguishable, even 

 when the wings are shut ; the rump is white, and remarkably prominent ; 

 tlie tail-coverts white, and curiously serrated with black ; upper side of the 

 tail, and the tip below, black, edged with light, loose filaments of a cream 

 color, the two exterior feathers serrated with whitish ; shafts, black towards 

 the tips, the two middle ones, nearly wholly so ; bill, an inch and a half long, 

 of a dusky horn color, somewhat bent, ridged only on the top, tapering, but 

 not to a point, that being a little wedge-formed ; legs and feet, light blue ; 

 iris of the eye, hazel ; length, twelve inches ; extent, twenty. The female 

 differs from the male chiefly in the greater obscurity of the fine colors, and 

 in. wanting the black mustaches on each side of the throat. 



