THE WOODPECKERS 1729 



The Cape ground woodpecker (Geocolaptes olivaceus}, the sole mem- 

 r 1 p 1 t k er ^ ** s S enus ma Y be taken as our first representative of the typical 



subfamily of the group, in all the genera of which the tail is spiny, 

 and has stiffened shafts to the feathers. The species under consideration is a dull- 

 plumaged bird, of moderate size, and about ten inches in length. The general color 

 is olive brown, with yellowish brown shafts to the quills, and orange-brown shafts 

 to the tail feathers. There is some crimson on the rump, and also on the under 

 surface of the body. The head is slaty gray, with a slight crimson moustache; and 

 the color of the eye is orange, but it has also been described as whitish pink. This 

 curious woodpecker is common in certain parts of South Africa, where it enjoys a 

 very limited range, being found in the Cape Colony, extending to the Orange Free 

 State and Natal, but apparently not to the Transvaal. Mr. L,ayard observes: "This 

 singular bird presents a remarkable instance of the adaptation of creatures to the 

 localities wherein their lot is cast. Though belonging to the woodpecker family it 

 never pecks wood, but bores its way into the banks of rivers, sides of hills, or the 

 walls of mud buildings, in search of its prey, and for a home for its young. It also 

 seeks for food on the ground, in the same manner as the golden-winged woodpecker 

 of North America. Its flight also struck me as very similar. It excavates a hole, 

 sometimes several feet in depth, in which to deposit its eggs, which are pure white, 

 and from three to five in number. Families seem to keep in company, until the 

 arrival of the breeding season separates them. They feed together, and roost to- 

 gether in some deserted hole, while their loud, harsh cries, as they call to each 

 other, may be heard for a considerable distance. ' ' In Natal, Mr. Thomas Ayres 

 noticed this woodpecker on the Mooi river, creeping with much agility among the 

 crevices and holes in some loose stone walls erected by the Kaffirs as inclosures for 

 their cattle. Some of the birds were climbing up the face of a perpendicular rock, 

 searching for insects in the same manner as other woodpeckers examine a tree. 

 These birds are fond of perching in twos or threes, sometimes in family parties, on 

 a big rock or ant hill, with the head and neck only visible to the intruder. Colonel 

 Butler says that a nesting place found by him in August contained four fresh eggs, 

 and the nest hole was bored in soft earth on the face of a precipitous rocky bank or 

 cliff overlooking a running stream. The eggs were laid in a depression in the 

 ground, with no attempt at a nest, about a foot and a half from the entrance, the 

 passage inclining slightly upwards. The general impression amongst naturalists, 

 who have seen this woodpecker in a state of nature, is that the bird never perches 

 on trees; but in the Orange Free State, Mr. Symonds says that he saw a number of 

 them sitting on the mimosa trees, chattering and making a great noise. 



Peculiar to the New World, these woodpeckers are distributed over 

 Bright-Shafted , 



Wood- nearly the whole of North and South America, with the exception of 



peckers some of the forest districts, as in British Guiana, Venezuela, and parts 

 of Amazonia and Ecuador, but representatives of the genus (Colapfes) 

 occur again in Brazil, as well as in Peru, Chili, and Patagonia. The term golden- 

 winged is due to the bright yellow shafts to the quills, the inside of the wing being 

 also bright yellow; but there are some species to which the name does not strictly 

 apply, such as C. mexicamis, in which the shafts of the quills and the quill lining 

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