WOODPECKERS. 347 



Southern States, but has a geographic range from Mexico 

 to Labrador and Columbia River. 



COCCYZUS Erythrophthalmus, (Wilson.) Black -billed 

 cuckoo. This species is closely related to the yellow-billed. 

 It is permanent in the Southern States, having, however, a 

 range from Texas to Labrador. It comes to the Alleghany 

 in May and leaves in September. 



WOODPECKERS. 



Pious, (Linn.) This is a family of regular climbers, com- 

 posed of shy, rough, unmusical birds, living on the larvae of 

 insects, which they obtain from decayed bark and wood, also 

 eating berries, etc. Some of them are peculiar birds, all are 

 useful as destroyers of noxious worms and insects. 



COLAPTES Auratus, (Linn., Wil.) Flicker, or golden- 

 winged woodpecker. This is a handsome and common spe- 

 cies, found all over the continent, from 25 to 63 north 

 latitude. It comes to the mountain in April and leaves in 

 October. According to Dekay, " it sometimes remains in 

 New York all the year." It is a useful bird, with very un- 

 savory flesh, which fact leaves the fowler without excuse for 

 the common practice of shooting it as a game bird. 



Pious Pileatus, (Linn., Wil.) Pileated woodpecker, or 

 log-cock. This is the largest and most imposing of the 

 woodpeckers that visit the mountain. Dekay gives him a 

 range from Texas to the sixty-third parallel. He remains 

 all the year in the "United States, and although said to be an 

 annual resident of Pennsylvania, and really a common bird 

 in the hidden forests of the mountain, he is not often visible 

 in the winter. This is the large, well-known black wood- 

 pecker, with red crest and mustache. 



MELANERPES Erythrocephalus, (Linn., Wil.) Red-headed 

 woodpecker. The commonest of his tribe, he is found every 

 place, from Mexico to the fiftieth parallel ; arriving on the 

 mountain in May, and departing in September. He is so 



