THE WOODPECKER. 381 



nation of pismires) more than is sufficient for the whole week. 

 He cannot be said to" lead a mean and gloomy life, without 

 an intermission of labor," who usually feasts by the first peep 

 of dawn, .and spends the early and sweetest hours of morning, 

 on the highest peaks of the tallest trees, calling on his mate or 

 companions ; or pursuing and gamboling with them round 

 the larger limbs, and body of the tree, for hours together; 

 for such are really his habits. Can it be said that " neces- 

 sity never grants an interval of sound repose" to that bircl, 

 who, while other tribes are exposed to all the peltings of the 

 midnight storm, lodges dry and secure in a snug chamber of 

 a tree of his own constructing ? or that " the narrow circum- 

 ference of a tree circumscribes his dull round of life," who, as 

 seasons and inclination inspire, roams from the frigid to the 

 torrid zone, feasting on the abundance of various regions. 



The Golden-winged Woodpecker has the back and wings 

 above of a dark umber, transversely marked with equidistant 

 streaks of black ; upper part of the head an iron gray ; cheeks 

 and parts surrounding the eyes, a fine cinnamon color ; from 

 the lower mandible a stripe of black, an inch in length, passes 

 down each side of the throat, and a lunated spot, of a vivid 

 blood red, covers the hindhead, its two points reaching within 

 half an inch of each eye ; the sides of the neck, below this, 

 incline to a bluish gray ; throat and chin a very light cinna- 

 mon or fawn color ; the breast is ornamented with a broad 

 crescent of deep black ; the belly and vent white, tinged with 

 yellow, and scattered with innumerable spots of black, every 

 feather having a distinct central spot, those on the thighs 

 and vent being heart-shaped and largest ; the lower or inner 

 side of the wing and tail, shafts of all the larger feathers, and 

 indeed of almost every feather, are of a beautiful golden yel- 

 low that on the shafts of the primaries being very distinguish- 

 able, even when the wings are shut ; the rump is white, and 

 remarkably prominent ; the tail-coverts white, and curiously 

 serrated with black ; upper side of the tail, and the tip below, 

 black, edged with light loose filaments of a cream color, the 

 two exterior feathers serrated with whitish ; shafts black 



