GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 193 



claws and tail. If they intend to settle on a branch, which they as fre- 

 quently do, they do not previously rise ; but in either case, no sooner has 

 the bird alighted, if it be not pursued or have suspicions of any object 

 about it, than it immediately nods its head, and vitters its well-known 

 note, " Flicker?'' It easily moves sidewise on a small branch, keeping 

 itself as erect as other birds usually do ; but with equal ease does it 

 climb by leaps along the trunk of trees or. their branches, descend, and 

 move sidewise or spirally, keeping at all times its head upwards, and its 

 tail pressed against the bark as a support. 



On the ground, where itfrequently alights, ithops with great ease. This, 

 however, it does merely to pick up a beetle, a caterpillar, a grain of com 

 dropt by a squirrel from the ear in the fields, or to enable it to examine 

 the dead roots of trees, or the side of a prostrate log, from which it pro- 

 cures ants and other small insects. It is also fond of various fruits and 

 berries. Apples, grapes, persimons and dogwood berries seem quite 

 agreeable to it, and it does not neglect the young corn of the farmer's 

 field. Even poke-berries or huckleberries answer its purpose at times, 

 and during winter it is a frequenter of the corn-cribs. 



In this species, as in a few others, there is a singular arrangement in 

 the colouring of the feathers of the upper part of the head, which I con- 

 ceive it necessary for me to state, that it may enable persons better quali- 

 fied than myself to decide as to the reasons of such arrangement. The 

 young of this species frequently have the whole upper part of the head 

 tinged with red, which at the approach of winter disappears, when mere- 

 ly a circular line of that colour is to be observed on the hind part, be- 

 coming of a rich silky vermilion tint. The Hairy, Downy and Red- 

 cockaded Woodpeckers are subject to the same extraordinary changes, 

 which, as far as I know, never reappear at any future period of their 

 lives. I was at first of opinion that this change appeared only on 

 the head of the male birds, but on dissection I found it equally affect- 

 ing both sexes. I am induced to believe, that, in consequence of this, 

 many young Woodpeckers of diff^erent species have been described and 

 figured as forming distinct species themselves. I have shot dozens of 

 young Woodpeckers in this peculiar state of plumage, which, on being- 

 shewn to other persons, were thought by thein to be of different species 

 from what the birds actually were. This occurrence is the more worthy 

 of notice, as it is exhibited on all the species of this genus on the heads 

 of which, when in full plumage, a very narrow line exists. 



