YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 33 



ed, descending by a small angle, and then running downwards 

 about fifteen inches. On the smooth solid wood lay four white 

 eggs. This was about the twenty-fifth of May. Having no op- 

 portunity of visiting it afterwards, I cannot say whether it ad- 

 ded any more eggs to the number; I rather think it did not, as 

 it appeared, at that time, to be sitting. 



The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is eight inches and a half 

 long, and in extent fifteen inches; whole crown a rich and deep 

 scarlet, bordered with black on each side, and behind forming 

 a slight crest, which it frequently erects;* from the nostrils, 

 which are thickly covered with recumbent hairs, a narrow strip 

 of white runs downward, curving round the breast, mixing 

 with the yellowish white on the lower part of the breast; throat 

 the same deep scarlet as the crown, bordered with black, pro- 

 ceeding from the lower mandible on each side, and spreading 

 into a broad rounding patch on the breast; this black, in birds 

 of the first and second year, is dusky gray, the feathers being 

 only crossed with circular touches of black; a line of white, and 

 below it another of black, proceed, the first from the upper 

 part of the eye, the other from the posterior half of the eye, and 

 both lose themselves on the neck and back; back dusky yellow, 

 sprinkled and elegantly waved with black; wings black, with 

 a large oblong spot of white; the primaries tipt and spotted with 

 white; the three secondaries, next the body, are also variegated 

 with white; rump white, bordered with black; belly yellow; 

 sides under the wings more dusky yellow, marked with long 

 arrow-heads of black; legs and feet greenish blue; tail black, 

 consisting of ten feathers, the two outward feathers, on each 

 side tipt with white, the next totally black, the fourth edged 

 on its inner vane, half way down, with white, the middle one 

 white on its interior vane, and spotted with black; tongue flat, 

 horny for half an inch at the tip, pointed, and armed along its 

 sides with reflected barbs; the other extremities of the tongue 

 pass up behind the scull in a groove, and end near the right nos- 



* This circumstance seems to have been overlooked by naturalists. 

 VOL. II. E 



