72 ZOOLOGY OF DJDU. 



proceed in search of another female. In this manner all 

 the golden-winged woodpeckers are soon happily mated. 

 Each pair immediately proceed to excavate the trunk of a 

 tree, and finish a hole in it sufficient to contam themselves 

 and their young. They both work with great industry and 

 apparent pleasure. Should the male, for instance, be em- 

 ployed, the female is close to him, and congratulates him 

 on the removal of every chip which his bill sends through 

 the air. While he rests he appears to be speaking to her 

 on the most tender subjects, and when fatigued is at once 

 assisted by her. In this manner, by the alternate exer- 

 tions of each, the hole is dug and finished. They caress 

 each other on the branches, climb about and around the 

 tree with apparent delight, rattle with their bill against the 

 tops of the dead branches, chase all their cousins the red- 

 heads, defy the purple-grakles to enter their nest, feed plen- 

 tifully on ants, beetles, and larvse, cackling at intervals, 

 and ere two weeks have elapsed the female lays either four 

 or six eggs, the whiteness or transparency of which are 

 doubtless' the delight of her heart. If to raise a numerous 

 progeny may contribute to happiness, these woodpeckers 

 may be happy enough, for they have two broods each sea- 

 son. Even in confinement the golden-winged woodpecker 

 never suflers its naturally lively spirit to droop. It feeds 

 well, and by way of amusement will continue to destroy as 

 much furniture "in a day as can well be mended by a dif- 

 ferent kind of workman in two. Therefore, kind reader, 

 do not anj' longer believe that woodpeckers, I mean those 

 of America, are such stupid, forlorn, dejected, and unpro- 

 vided-for beings as they have hitherto been represented."* 



In regard to the Indian woodpeckers, we shall merely 

 mention that they inhabit a great extent of country, from 

 the southern point of the peninsula to the sombre forests 

 of the Hiinmaleh mountains. From the latter locality, that 

 fine species the picus squamatus has been lately transmitted 

 to the Edinburgh Museum. It is figured by Mr. Gould.t 



The limited genus Yrmx, which contains the European 

 wryneck, is remarkable for its wide distribution. Though 



* Ornithological Biography, or an Account of the Habits of the Birds 

 of the United States of America. By John James Audubon, F.B.SX. 

 and E., &c.. vol. i. p. 191. 



t A Century of Birds from the Hinunalaya Mountains, part 1. 



