The Birds’ Calendar 
alias ‘* yellow-hammer.’’ It has eleven other 
names, based on its habits or appearance. This 
is quite a large bird, over twelve inches long, 
of a curiously mottled brownish color above, 
whitish and black spotted beneath, with a black 
crescent on its breast and a scarlet crescent on the 
back of its head. In flight it is easily identified 
by the large white area on the lower part of the 
back or rump. ‘The finest view of it is when 
it spreads its broad wings against the sunlight, 
for they are of a deep rich yellow inside, from 
which it gets the name of ‘‘ golden-winged.”’ 
Its variety of names shows its prevalence over 
an extensive area, being found from the Gulf of 
Mexico to Hudson’s Bay. They are not in the 
fullest sense of the term woodpeckers, inasmuch 
as their food is largely gathered from the ground, 
consisting of ants and other insects, berries and 
grain, although at times showing the instinct 
of the true woodpecker in extracting insects, 
larvee and eggs from the bark. Like the other 
species, they excavate their nests in the trees, 
and some of the accounts of their nest-building 
are very interesting. It has a very harsh, loud 
note, uttered singly, and another, softer and 
sweeter, often repeated rapidly a dozen times 
or more, which is hardly distinguishable from 
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