SPECIES 10. PIC US CAROLINUS. 



RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 



[Plate VII. Fig. 2.] 



Picus Carolinus, LINN. Syst. i, 174, 10. Pic varie de la Jamai- 

 qw y BUFFON, vii, 72, PL Enl. 597. Picus varius medius Jamai- 

 censis, SLOAN. Jam. 299, 15. Jamaica Woodpecker, EDW. 244. 

 CATESB. i, 19, Jig. 2. Arct. Zool. n, No. 161. LATH. Syn. 

 n, 570, 17. Id. 571, 17. <A. Id. B. Pic raye de la Louisiane, 

 BUFF, vii, 73, PL Enl. 692. PEALE'S Museum, JVb. 1944. 



THIS species possesses all the restless and noisy habits so 

 characteristic of its tribe. It is more shy, and less domestic, 

 than the Red-headed Woodpecker, (P. erythrocephalusj] or 

 any of the other spotted Woodpeckers. It is also more solitary. 

 It prefers the largest, high-timbered woods, and tallest decayed 

 trees of the forest; seldom appearing near the ground, on the 

 fences, or in orchards, or open fields; yet where the trees have 

 been deadened, and stand pretty thick, in fields of Indian corn, 

 as is common in new settlements, I have observed it to be very 

 numerous; and have found its stomach sometimes completely 

 filled with that grain. Its voice is hoarser than any of the others; 

 and its usual note, chow, has often reminded me of the barking 

 of a little lap-dog. It is a most expert climber, possessing ex- 

 traordinary strength in the muscles of its feet and claws, and 

 moves about the body, and horizontal limbs, of the trees, with 

 equal facility in all directions. It rattles, like the rest of the 

 tribe, on the dead limbs, and with such violence as to be heard, 

 in still weather, more than half a mile off; and listens to hear 

 the insects it has alarmed. In the lower side of some lofty 

 branch, that makes a considerable angle with the horizon, the 

 male and female, in conjunction, dig out a circular cavity for 

 their nest, sometimes out of the solid wood, but more generally 



