746 



of Datura! f^ 



bird be an inconvenience. The descending 

 position of the bones of the tail indicate the 

 mode by which the stiff points of the tail 

 feathers are brought into contact with the 

 surface of the bark of the tree to form an 

 accessory prop." 



The GKEE.V WOODPECKER. (Picus viri- 

 dis.) The bill of this bird, which is the se- 

 cond in size of the British kinds, is two 

 inches long, triangular, and of a dark horn 

 colour ; the tongue towards the tip is fur- 

 nished with numerous fibres, projecting 

 transversely, of the size of minute hairs ; the 

 outer circle of the eye is white, surrounding 

 another of red ; top of the head bright crim- 

 son, which extends down the hinder part of 

 the neck, ending in a point behind ; the eye 

 is surrounded by a black space ; and from 

 each corner of the bill runs a crimson streak 

 pointing downwards ; the back and coverts 



of the mouth : she makes her nest in the 

 hollow of a tree, fifteen or twenty feet from 

 the ground. Both male and female labour 

 by turns in boring through the sound part of 

 the wood until they penetrate to that which 

 is decayed and rotten, where she lays five or 

 six eggs, of a greenish colour, marked with 

 small black spots. The Green Woodpecker 

 is frequently seen on the ground where there 

 are ant-hills. It inserts its long tongue into 

 the holes through which the ants issue, and 

 draws out those insects in abundance. Some- 

 times, with its feet and bill, it makes a breac! 

 in the nest, and devours them at its ease, to- 

 gether with their eggs. 



The IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER. (Picus 

 principalis.) This fine species of Wood- 

 pecker is a native of Brazil, Mexico, and the 

 Southern States of North America. This 

 bird is about twenty inches in length, and 

 thirty in extent. " He is never found in 

 cultivated tracts," says Nuttall ; " the scene 

 of his dominion is the lonely forest, amidst 

 trees of the greatest magnitude. His reiter- 

 ated trumpeting note, somewhat similar to 

 the high tones of the clarionet, is heard soon 

 after day, and until a late morning hour, 



OREEN WOODPECKER.- FICOS VIRIBIS.) 



olive green ; rump yellow ; the quill feathers 

 are dusky, barred on the outer web with 

 black and white ; under parts of the body 

 white, slightly tinged with green : and the 

 tail is marked with bars like the wings. 

 This species obtains its food both upon trees 

 and on the ground : its flight is short, un- 

 dulating, and rather laborious. "When 

 seen moving upon a tree," says Mr. Yarrell, 

 " the bird is mostly ascending in a direction 

 more or less oblique, and is believed to be 

 incapable of descending unless this action is 

 performed backwards. On flying to a tree 

 to make a new search, the bird settles low 

 down on the bole or body of the tree, but a 

 few feet above the ground, and generally 

 below the lowest large branch, as if to have 

 all its work above it, and proceeds from 

 thence upwards, alternately tapping to in- 

 duce any hidden insect to change its place, 

 pecking holes in a decayed branch, that it 

 may be able to reach any insects that are 

 lodged within, or producing its long exten- 

 sible tongue to take up any insect on the 

 surface ; but the summit of the tree once ob- 

 tained, the bird does not descend over the 

 examined part, but flies off to another tree, 

 or to another part of the same tree, to re- 

 commence its search lower down nearer the 

 ground." The female differs from the male 

 in not having the red mark from the corner 



IVORY BIIXSTJ WOOUPEOE.-ER. 

 (PIOO8 PRINCIPALS.) 



echoing loudly from the recesses of the dark 

 cypress swamps, where he dwells in domestic 

 security, without showing any impertinent 

 or necessary desire to quit his native solitary 

 abodes. Upon the giant trunk and moss- 

 grown arms of this colossus of the forest, and, 

 amidst inaccessible and almost ruinous piles 

 of mouldering logs, the high rattling clarion 

 and repeated strokes of this princely Wood- 

 pecker are often the only sounds which vi- 

 brate through and communicate an air of 

 life to these dismal wilds. His stridulous 

 interrupted call, and loud industrious blows, 

 may often be heard for more than half a 

 mile, and become audible at various dis- 

 tances, as the elevated mechanic raises or 

 depresses_ his voice, or as he flags or exerts 

 himself in his laborious employment. His 

 retiring habits, loud notes, and singular 

 occupation, amidst scenes so savage yet ma- 



