RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 7 
RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER.—PICUS CAROLINUS. — 
Fie. 26. 
Picus Carolinus, Linn. Syst. i. 174, 10.— Pic varie de la Jamaique, Buffon, vii. 72. 
enl. 597. — Picus varius medius Jamaicensis, Sloan. Jam. 299, 15.— Jamaica 
Woodpecker, Edw. 244, — Cates. i. 19, fig. 2. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 161.— Lath. 
Syn. it. 570, 17. Id. 571, 17, a. Id. 8.—L’Epeiche rayé de la Louisiane, Buff. 
vil. 73. PZ. enl. 692. —‘Peale’s Museum, No. 1944. 
COLAPTES CAROLINUS.— Swainson, 
Picus Carolinus, Bonap. Synop. p. 45.— Picus erythrauchen, Wagl. Syst. Av 
No, 38. 
Turs species possesses all the restless and noisy habits so charac- 
teristic of its, tribe. It is more shy and less domestic than the Red- 
headed one, (P. erythrocephalus,) or any of the other spotted Wood- 
peckers. It is also more solitary. It prefers the largest, high-timbered 
woods, and tallest decayed trees of the forest; seldom appearing near 
the ground, on the fences, or in orchards, or open fields; yet where 
the trees have been deadened, and stand pretty thick, in fields of 
Indian corn, as is common in new settlements, I have observed it to 
be very numerous, and have found its stomach sometimes completely 
filled with that grain.* Its voice is hoarser than any of the others; 
and its usual note, “ chow,” has often reminded me of the barking of 
a little lapdog. Itis a most expert climber, possessing extraordinary 
strength in the muscles of its feet and claws, and moves about the 
body and horizontal limbs of the trees with equal facility in all direc- 
tions. It rattles, like the rest of the tribe, on the dead limbs, and with 
such violence as to be heard, in still weather, more than half a mile off, 
and listens to hear the insects it has alarmed. In the lower side of 
some lofty branch that makes a considerable angle with the horizon, 
the male and female, in conjunction, dig out a circular cavity for their 
nest, sometimes out of the solid wood, but more generally into a hollow 
limb, twelve or fifteen inches above where it becomes solid. This is 
usually performed early in April. The female lays five eggs, of a pure 
white, or almost semi-transparent; and the young generally make 
their appearance towards the latter end of May, or beginning of 
* This species will also Daas in the genus Colaptes, but will present a more 
aberrant form. In it we have the compressed and slightly bent shape of the bill, 
becoming stronger and more angular; we have the barred plumage of the upper 
parts, but that of the head is uniform and only slightly elongated behind ; and in the 
wings and tail the shafts of the quills lose their strength and beautiful color. In 
Wilson’s description of the habits, we also find them agreeing with the modifications 
of form. It prefers the more solitary recesses of lofty forests ; and, though capable 
of turning and twisting, and possessing a great part of the activity of the Nuthateh 
and Titmice, it seldom appear about orchards or upon the ground; yet it occa- 
sionally visits the corn-fields, and feeds on the grain, and, as remarked above, is 
“capable, of subsisting on coarser and more various fare.” These modifications 
of habit we shal! always find in unison with the structure ; and we cannot too much 
admire the wisdom that has t'-is mutually adapted them to the various offices they 
are destined to fil.. — Ep. 
