SPHYROPICUS VARIUS: YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER, 'jy 



with white, the coverts with a large obHque white bar ; tail 

 black, most of the feathers edged with white, and the upper 

 coverts mostly white. " Young birds lack the black areas of the 



; head and breast, and the crimson throat patch, these parts being 

 mottled gray. But in any plumage the bird is recognized by its 



' yellowness, different from what is seen in any other eastern 

 species, and a broad white wing-bar." The tongue is scarcely 

 extensible. Length, about 8.50 ; extent, 15.00-15.50 ;, wing, 4.50- 

 5.00 ; tail, 3.50. A slight variety {nitchalis), with a band of red 

 on the nape in addition to that above described, is sometimes 

 seen in New England. 



This is a very different kind of Woodpecker from any 

 of the foregoing — one remarkable not only for the 

 varied beauty of its coloration, but also for certain ana- 

 tomical peculiarities in which it stands alone among all 

 the New England species, and as the cause or result of 

 which, it is unlike the rest in its vital economy. The 

 tongue cannot be thrust far out of the mouth, nor is it 

 fashioned like a spear, being brushy at the end with little 

 of the acuteness and hardness seen in the same organ of 

 other Woodpeckers. It feeds upon insects, but only 

 derives a portion of its sustenance from such sources, 

 and takes the winged imagos readily by pursuing them 

 in the air and returning after such exploits to its perch, 

 almost in the manner of a Kingbird or Pewee. Nuts, 

 berries and other fruits vary its fare; and to procure 

 these it may often be seen creeping and hanging in the 

 strangest attitudes among the terminal twigs of trees, 

 so slender that they bend with the weight of the bird. 

 The traces of its carpenter work on trees are quite pe- 

 culiar ; for it has a way of operating on sound healthy 

 wood when the sap is flowing, by which patches of bark 

 some inches in diameter are removed. The object of 

 the bird is apparently to get at the soft succulent inner 



