Species V. PICUS VARIUS. 



YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 



[Plate IX. Fig. 2.] 



Picus varius, Linn. Syst. i., 176, 20. — Gmel. Syst. i., 438. — Lepic varie de la Caro- 

 line, Buff, vii., 77. PI. Enl. 785. — Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, Catesb. i., 21: — 

 Arci. Zool. II., No. 166.— Lath. Syn. ii., 574, 20. Id. Sup. p. 109. 



This beautiful species is one of ^ our resident birds. It visits our 

 orchards in tbe month of October, in great numbers ; is occasionally 

 seen during the whole winter and spring ; but seems to seek the depths 

 of the forest, to rear its young in ; for during summer, it is rarely seen 

 among our settlements ; and even in the intermediate woods, I have 

 seldom met with it in that season. According to Brisson, it inhabits 

 the continent from Cayenne to Virginia ; and I may add, as far as to 

 Hudson's Bay ; where according to Hutchins, they are called Mekisewe 

 Pawpastaow ;* they are also common in the states of Kentucky and 

 Ohio, and have been seen in the neighborhood of St. Louis. They are 

 reckoned by Georgi, among the birds that frequent the Lake Baikal, in 

 Asia,f but their existence there has not been satisfactorily ascertained. 



The habits of this species are similar to those of the Hairy and 

 Downy Woodpeckers, with which it generally associates ; and which are 

 both represented in the same plate. The only nest of this bird which 

 I have met with, was in the body of an old pear-tree, about ten or 

 eleven feet from the ground. The hole was almost exactly circular, 

 small for the size of the bird, so that it crept in and out with difficulty, 

 but suddenly widened, descending by a small angle, and then running 

 downwards about fifteen inches. On the smooth solid wood lay four 

 white eggs. This was about the twenty-fifth of May. Having no 

 opportunity of visiting it afterwards, I cannot say whether it added any 

 more eggs to the number ; I rather think it did not, as it appeared, at 

 that time, to be sitting. 



The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is eight inches and a half long, and 

 in extent fifteen inches ; whole crown a rich and deep scarlet, bordered 

 with black on each side, and behind forming a slight crest, which it 

 frequently erects ; % from the nostrils, which are thickly covered with 



* Latham. t Ibid. 



% This circumstance seems to have been overlooked by naturalists. 



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