22 PICID^E. 



length 10'5 inches, wing 5-8, tail 4-0. Female similar, but without the scarlet 

 malar patch. 



Hob. Paraguay and Argentina. 



This Woodpecker ranges as far south as the vicinity of Buenos 

 Ayres, and is not uncommon there in the few localities which possess 

 wild forests. It is the handsomest of our Woodpeckers, having brighter 

 tints than its congener of the plains, Colaptes agricola. Like that bird, 

 though not to the same extent, it has diverged from the typical Picidae 

 in its habits, alighting sometimes on the ground to feed, and also 

 frequently perching crosswise on branches of trees. It has a powerful, 

 clear, abrupt, and oft-repeated note, and a rapid undulating flight. 



The following interesting account of its breeding-habits appears in 

 one of Mr. Gibson's papers : " The excavation for the nest is begun 

 as early as September ; but the eggs are only laid during the first half 

 of October. The hole is generally commenced where some branch has 

 decayed away; but care is taken that the remainder of the tree is 

 sound. It opens at a height of from six to nine feet from the ground, 

 and is excavated to a depth of nearly a foot. Occasionally it is suf- 

 ficiently wide to admit of one's hand, but such is not always the case. 

 No preparation is made for the eggs beyond the usual lining of some 

 chips of wood. 



" The pair which frequented the garden excavated a hole in a 

 paradise-tree, and bred there for two consecutive years. The tree 

 stood near one of the walks, and on any one passing the sitting bird 

 immediately showed its head at the aperture, like a jack-in-the-box, 

 and then flew away. Last year this pair actually bred in one of the 

 posts of the horse-corral, notwithstanding the noise and bustle incident 

 to such a locality. While waiting there, at sunrise, for the herd of 

 horses to be shut in I used often to knock at the post, in order to make 

 the Woodpecker leave its nest, but the bird seemed indifferent to such 

 a mild attack, and would even sit still while a hundred horses and 

 mares rushed about the corral or hurled themselves against the sides of 

 it. In another case I had worked with hammer and chisel for half-an- 

 hour, cutting a hole on a level with the bottom of a nest, when the 

 female first demonstrated her presence by flying out almost into my 

 face. This last nest contained four (considerably incubated) eggs, 

 which I took. Happening to pass the spot a fortnight after, I inspected 

 the hole and was surprised to find that it had been deepened and other 

 five eggs laid, while the entrance I had cut was the one now used by 

 the birds. The nest was again resorted to the following year and a 

 brood hatched out, but since then a pair of Wrens have occupied the 

 place to the exclusion of the rightful owners." 



