GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 541 



too insecure to admit of any thing being applied to facilitate the ascent. 

 To overtiu'n the nest was the only way then by which we could obtain 

 the object of our wishes. To effect this all our strength was exerted, so 

 that we soon had the satisfaction of seeing the stump yield, and eventu- 

 ally give way with a heavy crash, by which it was broken into many 

 pieces. Eager to secure our prize, we hastened to the spot, but con- 

 ceive our disappointment when, instead of the full-fledged birds which 

 we expected to obtain, a large number of naked objects, apparently just 

 out of the shell, some of them scarcely half the size of others, and all 

 with their eyes yet unopened, lay scattered upon the ground. This was 

 a result which we had never anticipated, and disappointment quickly 

 yielded to strong feelings of compunction, as we surveyed the poor sight- 

 less creatures writhing their necks and quivering under the severity of 

 the shock. To repair the mischief, if possible, the fragments of the 

 nest were spe.edily gathered and neatly joined, and having collected the 

 brood for the purpose of replacing it, we were astonished to find that the 

 nest had contained the almost incredible number of eighteen young birds, 

 besides three eggs, which still remained unbroken, notwithstanding the 

 violence of the fall. For this singular instance of fecundity I am whol- 

 ly unable to account, unless by the supposition that, from the nest being 

 in the immediate vicinity of a public road, one of the birds had been 

 shot after the usual deposit of eggs had been made. The survivor hav- 

 ing procured another mate, an addition was made to the number of eggs, 

 and most probably from the same cause a third, ere the work of incuba- 

 tion commenced. The vigoiu* of one of the parents being impaired may 

 perhaps explain the diversity of size, while the eggs which remained were 

 probably the first deposited, but in which the vital principle had be- 

 come extinct ere the last was laid. Perhaps it may be interesting to 

 mention that our efforts to repair the injury were not attended by the 

 result that we desired. Upon a subsequent visit the whole brood was 

 found cold and dead ; and if the parent birds had ever re-entered their 

 prostrate nest, it was merely to witness the devastation we had vvo-ought, 

 and then to abandon it for ever." 



An adult male preserved in spirits has the interior of the mouth as 

 in the other species, its width 5^ twelfths ; the posterior apertm-e of the 

 nares oblongo-linear, 6 twelfths in length. The tongue is 1 inch Stwelfths 

 long, 14 twelfth in breadth at the base, gradually narrowed toward the 



