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AUDUBON'S WOODPECKER. 



-r Picus Auduboni, Trudeau. 

 PLATE CCLXV.— Adult. 



My talented and amiable friend Dr. James 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 curious bird, respecting which I have learned nothing 

 farther, has escaped the observation of naturalists on account of its resem- 

 blance to the two species already named (the Hairy and Downy Wood- 

 peckers)." 



The specimen mentioned above was presented to me by its discoverer, 

 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 Picus pubescens. 



Picus Auduboni, Audubon's Woodpecker, Trudeau, Journ. Acad. Nat. Sc. Philadelphia, 



vol. vii. p. 404. 

 Audubon's Woodpecker, Picus Auduboni, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 194. 



Adult, 7, 13£. 



Louisiana. 



Adult. 



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 margin, the edges direct, 



