GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 169 



is not seen when the bird is flying, at which time it is very prominent ; 

 the tail is tapering, the feathers being very convex above and strong ; 

 the legs are of a leaden gray color, very short, scarcely half an inch, 

 the toes very long, the claws strong and semicircular, and of a pale 

 blue ; the bill is fluted, sharply ridged, very broad at the base, bluish 

 black above, below and at the point bluish white ; the eye is of a bright 

 golden color ; the pupil black ; the tongue, like those of its tribe, is 

 worm-shaped, except near the tip, where for one-eighth of an inch it is 

 horny, pointed, and beset with barbs. 



The female has the forehead, and nearly to the crown, of a light 

 brown color, and the mustaches are dusky instead of red. In both, a 

 fine line of white separates the red crest from the dusky line that passes 

 over the eye. 



Species III. PICUS AURATUS. 



GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 



[Plate III. Fig. 1.] 



Le Pic aux ailes dories, Bupfon, vii., 39. PI. Enl. 693. — Picus amratus, Linn. Syst. 

 174. — Cuculus alls de auratis, Klein, p. 30. — Catesbt, i., 18. — Latham, ii., 597. 

 Baktram, p. 289.* 



This elegant bird is well known to our farmers and junior sports- 

 men, who take every opportunity of destroying him ; the former for the 

 supposed trespasses he commits on their Indian corn, or the trifle he will 

 bring in market, and the latter for the mere pleasure of destruction, and 

 perhaps for the flavor of his flesh, which is in general esteem. In the 

 state of Pennsylvania he can scarcely be called a bird of passage, as 

 even in severfe winters they may be found within a few miles of the city 

 of Philadelphia ; and I have known them exposed for sale in market 

 every week during the months of November, December and January, 

 and that too in more than commonly rigorous weather. They, no doubt, 

 partially migrate, even here ; being much more numerous in spring and 

 fall than in winter. Early in the month of April they begin to prepare 

 their nest, which is built in the hollow body or branch of a tree, some- 

 times, though not always, at a considerable height from the ground ; for 

 I have frequently known them fix on the trunk of an old apple-tree, 



* We add the following synonymes: — Cuculus auratus, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, 1, 

 112. — Gmel. Syst. I., 430. — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 242. — Picus Canadensis striatus, 

 Bkiss, 4, 72.— Penn, Arct. Zool. No. 158. 



