THE DOMINICAN WOODPECKER. BIRDS. THE WRYNECK. 



383 



and making a rattling noise upon the dead limbs so loud 

 as to be heard at a distance of half a mile. It sometimes 

 feeds with avidity upon the Indian corn. According to 

 Wilson, its voice is hoarser than that of the other wood- 

 peckers ; he says that its usual note is "chow," and 

 adds that it reminded him of the barking of a little 

 lapdog. At the breeding season it digs a hole usually 

 in the lower surface of the oblique decaying limb of 

 a tree, in which the female deposits five pure white 

 eggs. The young when nearly full-grown, but not yet 

 able to fly, creep out of the nest and climb to the higher 

 branches, where they are fed for some days by their 

 parents, but often pay the penalty of their impatience 

 to see the world by being snapped up by hawks. 



THE DOMINICAN WOODPECKER (Leuconerpes domi- 

 mcanus), an inhabitant ot South America, has its 

 plumage generally white ; the back of the neck, a 

 streak running backward from each eye, the anterior 

 half of the back and the wings black ; the tail is also 

 black, with brown bands ; the back of the head and the 

 belly are yellow. Its total length is about twelve inches. 

 This bird is said by Azara to frequent trees and walls, 

 but rarely to run upon them like the preceding wood- 

 peckers. It perches frequently in the manner of ordi- 

 nary birds, and feeds upon wasps, and other insects, 

 and upon fruits. 



THE GOLDEN- WINGED WOODPECKER (Colaptes 

 auratus) is an example of a peculiar group, in which 

 the bill is almost destitute of ridges. Members of this 

 group are found in both hemispheres ; the present 

 species is a native of North America, in nearly all parts 

 of which it is to be found. Its colour above is a dark 

 brown, with transverse black streaks ; the upper part 

 of the head is gray, the cheeks are cinnamon-brown, 

 and on the back of the head is a bright red crescent- 

 shaped spot; the throat and chin are fawn colour, 

 bounded on each side by a black streak, running from 

 the base of the bill ; on the breast there is a broad, 

 deep black crescent, and the belly is yellowish-white, 

 with round black spots. The lower surface of the wings 

 and tail, and the shafts of all the quills are of a beauti- 

 ful golden-yellow colour, whence the name of the species; 

 the rump and tail-coverts are white, and the tail black. 

 The length of this bird is about twelve inches. 



The food of the Golden-winged Woodpecker seems 

 to consist principally of ants and their larvae, in pursuit 

 of which he visits the broken and decayed stumps of 

 trees and even the ground. But, although thus par- 

 tially terrestrial in its habits, this bird frequents trees 

 like the other members of its family, and climbs over 

 their trunks and branches with great ease. It also 

 feeds freely upon fruits, and is very partial to Indian 

 corn, especially in the state known to the American 

 farmers as roasting ears. Its nest is made as usual in 

 a hole in the trunk or branch of a tree, and this is 

 sometimes dug by the birds themselves out of the solid 

 wood. The eggs are white, and six hi number. 



THE MINUTE PICULET (Picumnus minutus}. 

 Under the name of Piculets we may distinguish a 

 small group of very diminutive species, which inhabit 

 the tropical regions of both hemispheres ; they difler 

 from the true woodpeckers principally in the structure 

 of the tail, which is not used in supporting the bird, 



and has the tips of its feathers rounded. The pre- 

 sent, with several nearly allied species, inhabits the 

 forests of tropical America, where it appears to be 

 pretty widely dispersed. It measures only three inches 

 and a quarter in length, and is of a brown colour above, 

 with numerous white spots, and with the forehead and 

 part of the crown of the head bright red ; the lower 

 surface is yellowish-brown, streaked with a darker tint. 

 In its general habits this little bird resembles ite 

 larger relatives already described, creeping about in 

 search of insects upon the trunks and branches of trees, 

 and breeding in holes. 



TEMMINCK'S PICULET (Sasia abnormis}.la this, 

 and one or two other species occurring in India, the 

 feet are furnished with only three toes, two in front 

 and one behind, as in Picoides and Chrysonotus. 

 The present species, which is a native of Malacca 

 and the neighbouring islands, is probably the most 

 diminutive member of its family, measuring only three 

 inches in length ; three quarters of an inch less than 

 the diminutive golden-crested wren, the smallest of 

 British birds. It is of a green colour above, with the 

 forehead yellow, and the cheeks reddish-brown; the 

 eyes are surrounded by a naked skin of a bright rose 

 colour; the rump is yellowish-orange, the tail black, 

 and the lower surface light cinnamon colour, with a 

 yellowish gloss on the abdomen. 



THE WRYNECK ( Yunx torquilla) Plate 17, fig. 59. 

 This bird, which is a summer visitor to England, is 

 widely distributed over the northern parts of the 

 eastern hemisphere, extending its range at least as 

 far eastward as India. In this country it arrives in 

 April, and leaves us again about the end of August ; 

 and as these are also pretty nearly the times of arrival 

 and departure of the cuckoo, this bird is known in 

 some places under the name of the cuckoo's mate. Its 

 name of Wryneck has been given to it on account 

 of its habit of twisting its head into various positions, 

 especially while feeding. Although .the colouring of 

 this bird cannot boast of any brilliancy, its ground 

 colour being yellowish-gray above and white beneath, 

 variously spotted, mottled and banded with brown and 

 black, yet, from the elegance of its form, and the 

 beauty of its markings, it cannot but be regarded as a 

 handsome bird. 



The food of the Wryneck consists principally of ants 

 and their larvae and pupae, in search of which it visits 

 the ground in the vicinity of the nests of those insects ; 

 it also captures insects of various kinds whilst running 

 upon the trunks and branches of trees in the manner 

 of the true Woodpeckers. In all cases the insects are 

 captured by means of the extensible, worm-like tongue, 

 which is endued with a viscid secretion to which the 

 insects adhere ; this organ is darted out and retracted 

 with such extraordinary rapidity that the pale-coloured 

 larva or pupa of an ant adhering to it, being more 

 conspicuous than the tongue itself, seems almost as if 

 moving towards the mouth by attraction. The Wry- 

 neck breeds in the holes of trees, laying its eggs upon 

 the rotten wood at the bottom of the cavity. The eggs 

 are sometimes nine or ten in number, and are of a pure 

 white colour. 



THE CAYENNE BARBET (Capita cayanensis). Mr. 



