WOODPECKER. 371 



the rest of the neck, both at the back, and before to the vent black ; 

 belly, sides, thighs, and under tail coverts blackish ; the hind part of 

 the neck, back, wings, and tail in general are black ; on the wing 

 coverts a spot of white on the outer edge, and another or two of the 

 same, in other parts, from the base of the quills; tail unequal, the two 

 middle feathers the longest ; legs black ; in some specimens the streak 

 on the sides of the neck, and the chin and throat are pure white. 



The female is not greatly different, but wants the red on the 

 lower jaw ; instead of which, that part is dusky ; forepart of the 

 head dusky, the rest crimson as in the male, and the feathers equally 

 elongated. 



Inhabits Louisana, Carolina, and Virginia, also the forests in 

 Pennsylvania, where it stays the winter;* is very hurtful to the maize, 

 as it settles on the ripe ears, and destroys them with its bill ;f not that 

 it is certain they eat the grain, but probably search after some kind 

 of insects, harbouring in the plant, as birds of this Genus are not 

 often granivorous. It is found to extend as high as lat. 50. 31. 

 north, being met with near the banks of Albany River, near 400 

 miles from its discharge into Hudson's Bay. It lays six white eggs, 

 in the hole of a tree, and hatches the young in June : met with 

 frequently in the pine forests, and known to some by the name of 

 Woodcock ; as is the White-billed, but is more common. 



A.— Picus pileatus, Ind. Om.\. 226. 4. /3. Gen. Syn. Sup. 105. 



Length seventeen inches and a half; breadth twenty-eight, weight 

 nine ounces and a half. Bill lead-colour ; forehead greenish yellow ; 



* Kalm. Trav. i. 148. f Id. This author adds, that all the Woodpeckers are 



destructive to maize, when it begins to ripen, by pecking holes round the ears, which lets 

 in the wet, and occasions the corn to rot. Mr. Abbot observes, that although the chief 

 food is insects, yet it will sometimes open and eat the tender ears of Indian corn, but is most 

 frequently found chipping to pieces the stumps of trees, cut down, for the larvae of beetles 

 and other insects. 



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