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CANADIAN WOODPECKER. 



Picus Canadensis, Gmel. 



PLATE CCCCXVII. Male. 



This species, which has been overlooked by all the recent writers 

 on the birds of North America, although described and figured by 

 Bdffon, I again introduce to your notice. If you compare my repre- 

 sentation of it, Fig. 7 of the present plate, with those of the Hairy 

 Woodpecker, Picus mllosus, Figs. 1 and 2 of Plate CCCCXVI, you 

 will perceive that it is much larger, and somewhat differently marked, 

 although extremely similar in form and colours. 



The most southern localities in which this species has been obser- 

 ved in the United States, in so far as I have been able to trace it, 

 whether personally or by means of my friend Dr Teddeau, are the 

 northern portions of the State of Pennsylvania, in winter, where, how- 

 ever, it seems to be rare. It is more plentiful at that season in the 

 same parallel in the State of New York, beyond which, northward, it 

 is abundant up to the 56th degree, but then yields in frequency to the 

 Common Three-toed Woodpecker. 



It was in the course of my journey through the State of Maine, on 

 which I was accompanied by my wife and sons, that I became aware 

 of its being distinct from the Hairy Woodpecker. There I found it 

 very abundant in the woods, around the farms, by the roads, and on 

 the fences. Its notes alone suf&ce to distinguish it from every other 

 species, being louder and much shriller than those of Picus mllosus. It 

 also resorts to prostrate decaying logs lying on the ground, in quest of 

 food, much more than that species does, and quite as much as the Pi- 

 leated Woodpecker, P. pileatus. During its flight, the rustling sound 

 of its wings is very remarkable ; its passage from one tree to another 

 appears more laborious, and in all its movements it is less active, rest- 

 less, or petulant, than the Hairy Woodpecker. Those which I ex- 

 amined contained remains of large coleopterous insects, together with 

 pieces of lichens. 



Of its manner of breeding, eggs, or young, I unfortimately know 

 nothing. The number of figures in the present plate has prevented me 



