2^4 Trotter, ICahn's Ornithological Observations. f'f"]'' 



intend to describe them altogether more exactly in a particular 

 work. I only observe here, that almost all the different species of 

 woodpeckers are very noxious to the maize, when it begins to 

 ripen : for by picking holes in the membrane round the ear, the 

 rain gets into it, and causes the ear with all the corn it contains to 

 rot." (Eng. Trans., I, p. 148.) 



Kalm had not yet spent a winter in America, though he speaks 

 in the above note of knowing this bird to stay through the winter 

 from his own experience. It is evident, therefore, that his original 

 notes were carefully gone over upon his return to Sweden, in view 

 of their publication. Under date of March 11, 1749, at Raccoon, 

 New Jersey, a list of the woodpeckers was drawn up, and later 

 revised. It is interesting as being probably the first annotated 

 list of any group of North American birds. (Eng. Trans., II, pp. 

 85-88.) In this review of the woodpeckers by Kalm the most 

 notable fact, which must be taken cum g?-ario sa/us, is the occur- 

 rence of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, as far north as the Dela- 

 ware Valley. Possibly the bird had been observed as a straggler 

 (for Kalm speaks of it as being only an occasional visitor) on the 

 borders of the dense cedar swamps and pme forests of South Jersey, 

 and this region we know is decidedly Carolinian in its faunal and 

 floral features. At that time also a more or less unbroken wood- 

 land must have extended far up along the shores of the Delaware, 

 quite to the site of the old Swedish village of Raccoon. But this 

 is idle speculation, for the bird has never been authentically 

 reported from Pennsylvania or New Jersey. 



The Pileated Woodpecker is a true forest lover, and even in the 

 time of Alexander Wilson had, like the Indian, retreated into the 

 wilderness beyond the ever widening domain of cleared land. 



Kalm seems to have been imbued with the notion that the 

 smaller species of woodpeckers were enemies to agi'iculture and 

 the orchards. The sins of the real sap-sucker w^ere shared for 

 many long years by his less-offending brethren. The word 

 "flicker" does not appear among the local names of Colaptes 

 aziratus, the species being referred to as the "gold-winged wood- 

 pecker" and also under its Swedish names of " Hittock" and 

 "Pint." The ground-loving habits of this bird, the palatability of 

 its flesh, and its resemblance to the European cuckoo are com- 

 mented upon. 



