136 



mon summer resident in Marion county ; plentiful in wooded districts ; rarer north 

 in the prairie regions. 



MELANERPES. Swainson. Red-Headed Woodpeckers. 



151. M. ERYTHROCEPHALUS. Sw. Body lustrous blue black; rump, 

 secondaries and under parts white ; head and neck grayish in young, but crimson 

 in both sexes when adult: L. 9. Resident through the State; abundant in sum- 

 mer, much less so in winter. A familiar bird in garden orchards as well as in 

 woods; conspicuous as a barber's pole. It was this bird, flitting like a tri-colored 

 scarf in the foliage, that kindled the Scottish rhymster's enthusiasm, so that instead 

 of Wilson the poet, we have Wilson the ornithologist. In the South I hear this 

 bird called the "woodchuck." 



COLAPTES. Swainson. Yelloiv- Shafted Flickers. 



152. C. AURATUS. Swain. High-Holer. Yarup. Golden- Winged Woodpecker. 

 Yellow-hammer. Head ashy, with red nuchal crescent ; back olivaceous, barred 

 with black ; rump white ; below pinkish brown, shading into yellowish ; a black ■ 

 crescent on breast and numerous round black spots ; shafts and under surface of 

 quills golden yellow; male with a black maxillary jjatch ; L. 12^. Common sum- 

 mer resident north ; in the southern half of the State many remain through the 

 winter. 



The yellow-hammer is scarcely a woodpecker at all in his habits of feeding, taking 

 to the ground with the robins, where it gets the best part of its subsistence. It is 

 more migratory than most of the other species, which, owing to the nature of their 

 food, as well as the hardy nature of the family, are pretty thoroughly localized. 

 The red-bellied and red-headed, as well as the present species, are irregular mi- 

 grants in most regions. 



ORDER BB. PSITTACI. 



[Tha Parrots.) 



Bill enormously thick, cered at base, and strongly hooked. Outer toe directed 

 backward, as in Woodpeckers. Tongue short, fleshy ; upper jaw unusually mova- 

 ble. Plumage often brilliant. In all warm regions; about 350 species, of which 

 nearly half are American. Ours fall in the family Arida, the macaws, which are 



without crest and have the tail long, wedge-shaped or graduated. 



% 



CONURUS. Kuhl. Parroquets, 



153. C. CAROLINENSIS. (L.) Kuhl. Carolina Parroquet. Green ; head 

 and neck yellow ; face red ; wings variegated with blue and yellow ; bill white \. 

 feet flesh color ; L. 13 ; W. 7^ ; T. 6. Southern ; formerly north to the great 

 lakes; but of late years has receded from even the Carolinas ; it is abundant in. 

 Florida. They are altricial, gregarious and frugivorous. 



Dr. Rufus Raymond, of Franklin county, states in 1856 that they were formerly- 

 very numerous along the White river, but had not been seen for several years. 

 Dr. H, M. Bannister, of Evanston, 111., has seen it in that vicinity. Dr. Wheaton^, 



