GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKEft. 1Q3 



Description. 



GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



THIS species seldom weighs more than three 

 ounces, the wings, when extended, being about 

 fourteen inches from each extremity. It has a 

 strait black bill, which grows thicker towards the 

 head, and is about an inch long, ending in a 

 sharp point, channelled with a furrow or two, 

 with a sort of black hairs or bristles growing out 

 of the nostrils ; the iris of the eye red, and the 

 tongue much the same as the green woodpecker. 

 The top of the head is black, dashed with a shin- 

 ing sort of green, the sides of it, and the feathers 

 that encompass the base of the upper chap, and 

 also those about the eyes, are white, with a line 

 of fine crimson on the back part, that runs from 

 side to side, and joins to the while on each side 

 of the head with a large black stroke reaching 

 from the corner of the mouth to the back, as low 

 as the insertion of the wings, crossed with a black 

 line just below the head ; on the side of each 

 wing is a great white spot, the other parts of the 

 wings are bluck beautifully interspersed with se- 

 micircular white spots, the interior covert-fea- 

 thers of which are white, the exterior have one 

 or two white spots, the base or ridge is whitish. 



The tail is strong and stiff, about three inches 

 long, with a forked end, bending inwards; the 

 outermost feather of each side black, with a 

 white spot on the exterior web, with some fevr 



VOL, 111. NO. XX. 21 A 



