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AUDUBON'S WOODPECKER. 



Picus AuDUBONi, Trudeau. 



PLATE CCCCXVII. Adult. 



My talented and amiable friend, Dr Jamks Trudeau, has described 

 this species in the seventh volume of the Journal of the Academy of 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, where he says, " Hunting in a wood 

 fifteen miles from New Orleans, on the 26th of April 1837, my attention 

 was attracted by a very extraordinary note, and after some difficulty I 

 succeeded in getting possession of the bird from which it proceeded. It 

 was very wild, running on the trunks and limbs of trees with the agility 

 peculiar to the family, always contriving to keep on the side of the trunk 

 most distant from its pursuer. It was the species here described. I have 

 frequently examined the spot in hopes of getting more ; and although 

 I have often heard its note, the bird has, in the very thick woods, 

 eluded my pursuit. The sportsmen with whom I have spoken of it, 

 suppose it to be a common species. It is probable that this ciu'ious 

 bird, respecting which I have learned nothing farther, has escaped the 

 observation of naturalists on account of its resemblance to the two spe- 

 cies already named (the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers)." 



The specimen mentioned above was presented to me by its disco- 

 verer, my obligations to whom, on account of the honour which he has 

 conferred upon me, I now gratefully acknowledge. My friend Mr 

 SwAiNsoN has also named after me a Woodpecker, procured in 

 Louisiana, but which I believe to be only an immature specimen of 

 Picv^s pniescens. 



Picus Auduboni, Audubon's Woodpecker, Trudeau, Journal of Acad, of Nat. 

 Sciences of Pliiladelpliia, vol. vii. p. 404. 



Adult. Plate CCCCXVII. Fig. 10. 



Bill about the length of the head, strong, straight, differing from 

 that of any other North American Woodpecker in having both outlines 

 a little convex, and both tips acute. Upper mandible with the ridge 

 very narrow, the sides sloping and flat, the lateral ridge near the mar- 

 gin, the edges direct, sharp, and overlapping ; lower mandible with the 



