576 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



abdomen, each featlier with a heart-shaped spot of black near the end. Rump white. 

 Length, 12.50 ; wing, 6.00. 



Hab. All of eastern North America to the eastern slopes of Rocky Mountains; 

 farther north, extending across along the Yukon as far at least as Nulato, perhaps to 

 the Pacific. Greenland (Reinhardt). Localities: San Antonio, Texas, only one specimen 

 (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 470). 



Specimens vary considerably in size and proportions ; the more northern 

 ones are much the hirger. The spots vary in number and in size ; they 

 may be circuhir, or transversely or longitudinally oval. Western specimens 

 appear paler. In a Selkirk Settlement specimen the belly is tinged with 

 pale sulphur-yellow, the back with olivaceous-green. 



This species, in general pattern of coloration, resembles the C. mcxicawits, 

 although the colors are very different. Thus the shafts of the quills, with 

 their under surfaces, are gamboge-yellow, instead of orange-red. There is a 

 conspicuous nuchal crescent of crimson wanting, or but slightly indicated, in 

 mexicanus. The cheek-patch is pure black, widening and abruptly truncate 

 behind, instead of bright crimson, pointed or rounded behind. The shade 

 of the upper parts is olivaceous-green, instead of purplish-brown. Tlie top 

 of tlie iiead and the nape are more ashy. Tlie chin, throat, neck, and sides of 

 the head, are pale purplish or lilac brown, instead of bluish-ash ; the space 

 above, below, and around the eye of tlie same color, instead of having 

 reddish-brown above and ashy below. 



The young of this species is sufficiently like the adult to be readil}' recog- 

 nizable. Sometimes the entire crown is faintly tipped with red, as charac- 

 teristic of young Woodpeckers. 



Habits. The Golden-winged Woodpecker is altogether the most com- 

 mon and the most widely distributed of the North American representa- 

 tives of the genus. According to Sir John Eichardson, it visits the fur 

 countries in the sunnner, extending its migrations as far to the north as the 

 Great Slave Lake, and resorting in great numbers to the plains of the Sas- 

 katchewan. It was found by Dr. Woodhouse very abundant in Texas and 

 the Indian Territory, and it is given by Eeinhardt as occurring in Greenland. 

 Mr. McFarlane found it breeding at Fort Anderson ; Mr. Eoss at Fort Eae, 

 Fort Eesolution, and Fort Simpson ; and Mr. Kennicott at Fort Yukon. All 

 this testimony demonstrates a distribution throughout the entire eastern 

 portion of North America, from the Gulf of Mexico almost to the Arctic 

 Ocean, and from the Atlantic to the Eocky Mountains. 



In the more northern portions of the continent this l)ird is only a sum- 

 mer visitant, but in the Southern and Middle, and to some extent in the 

 New England States, it is a permanent resident. Wilson speaks of seeing 

 them exposed for sale in the markets of Philadelphia during each month of 

 a very rigorous winter. Wilson's observations of their habits during breed- 

 ing, made in Pennsylvania, were tliat early in April they begin to prepare 

 their nest. This is built in the hoUow body or branch of a tree, sometimes. 



