GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 173 



red instead of black, and the lower side of the wings, as well as their 

 shafts, are also red, where the other is golden yellow. It is also con- 

 siderably less. With respect to the habits of this new species, we have 

 no particular account ; but there is little doubt that they will be founa 

 to correspond with the one we are now describing. 



The abject and degraded character which the Count de Buffon, with 

 equal eloquence and absurdity, has drawn of the whole tribe of Wood- 

 peckers, belongs not to the elegant and sprightly bird now before us. 

 How far it is applicable to any of them will be examined hereafter. He 

 is not " constrained to drag out an insipid existence in boring the bark 

 and hard fibres of trees to extract his prey," for he frequently finds in 

 the loose mouldering ruins of an old stump (the capital of a nation of 

 pismires), more than is sufiicient for the wants of a whole week. He 

 cannot be said to " lead a mean and gloomy life, without an intermission 

 of labor," who usually feasts by the first peep of dawn, and spends the 

 early, and sweetest hours of morning, on the highest peaks of the tallest 

 trees, calling on his mate or companions ; or pursuing and gamboling 

 with them round the larger limbs and body of the tree for hours toge- 

 ther ; for such are really his habits. Can it be said that " necessity 

 never grants an interval of sound repose" to that bird, who, while other 

 tribes are exposed to all the peltings of the midnight storm, lodges dry 

 and secure in a snug chamber of his own constructing ? or that " the 

 narrow circumference of a tree circumscribes Ids dull round of life," 

 who, as seasons and inclination inspire, roams from the frigid to tlie 

 torrid zone, feasting on the abundance of various regions ? Or is it a 

 proof that " his appetite is never softened by delicacy of taste," because 

 he so often varies his bill of fare, occasionally preferring to animal food 

 the rich milkiness of young Indian corn, and the wholesome and nourish- 

 ing berries of the Wild Cherry, Sour Gum, and Red Cedar ? Let the 

 reader turn to the faithful representation of him given in the plate, and 

 say whether his looks be "sad and melancholy !" It is truly ridiculous 

 and astonishing that such absurdities should escape the lips or pen of 

 one so able to do justice to the respective merits of every species ; but 

 Buffon had too often a favorite theory to prop up, that led him insen- 

 sibly astray ; and so, forsooth, the whole family of Woodpeckers must 

 look sad, sour, and be miserable, to satisfy the caprice of a whimsical 

 philosopher, who takes it into his head that they are, and ought to 

 be, so. 



But the count is not the only European who has misrepresented and 

 traduced this beautiful bird. One has given him brown legs,* another 

 a yellow neck ;t a third has declared him a Cuckoo,^ and in an English 

 translation of Linnseus's System of Nature, lately published, he is char- 



* See Encyl. Brit. Art. Picus. f Latham. % Klein. 



