324 



LAND-BIRDS. 



In this, which contains no lining, from four to six very smooth 

 white eggs are laid. The notes of the Woodpeckers are un- 

 musical, being variously screams, or rather shrill notes, pitched 

 on a high key. 



I. COLAPTES. 



A. AURATUS. Golden-winged Woodpecker. Pigeon 

 Woodpecker. "Flicker" "High-hole." " Yellow-shafted 

 Woodpecker" " Yellow-hammer." (Also eight other names.) 

 In Massachusetts, a common summer resident, but much less 

 abundant in winter.* 



a. About 12J inches long. Above, umber brown, black- 

 barred ; tail and primaries, 

 chiefly black; rump, white. 

 Crown and nape, dark gray, 

 with a scarlet crescent be- 

 hind. Throat and upper 

 breast, cinnamon or "lilac 

 brown " ; the latter with a 

 black crescent, and $ with 

 a black maxillary patch. 

 Under parts, otherwise 

 white, variously tinged, and 

 black-spotted. Wings and 

 tail, (chiefly) bright yellow 

 beneath. 



b. The nests of our va- 



Rg.18. Golden-winged Woodpecker. (J) rious ^ Woodpeckers ^differ 



but little except in size or 



situation. They always consist of a hole, generally excavated 

 by the birds themselves in a tree, or rarely in a post, which 

 may be either sound or rotten. They are usually made more 

 than six feet from the ground, and more often in a trunk than 

 in a limb. They vary in length from six to even forty 

 inches, and are enlarged near the bottom, though rarely or 



* Very common throughout New and to the southward it also regularly 

 England from April to October or spends the winter in fair numbers, es- 

 November. In eastern Massachusetts pecially near the coast. W. B. 



