384 WOODPECKER. 



55— GOLD-BREASTED WOODPECKER. 



Picus chrysosternus, Golden-breasted Woodpecker, Went. Trans, ii. p. 289. 



LENGTH twelve inches and a half. Bill near one inch and a 

 half, black ; crown deep glossy black, which extends to the hind 

 head, and there ends in a point ; at the nostrils begins a whitish 

 stripe, which includes the eye, and then becomes a rich orange 

 yellow, uniting behind the head, and spreading over the sides and 

 lower part of the neck and breast ; chin black ; throat speckled near 

 the bill with white; upper parts of the body and wing coverts greyish 

 brown, transversely striated with greyish white ; quills darker and 

 immaculate near the tips; the fourth the longest, shafts of all golden 

 yellow ; rump white; body beneath grey, with brown, arrow-shaped 

 lines, pointing downwards, two on each feather ; upper and under 

 tail coverts banded black and whitish ; tail four inches and a half 

 long, black ; the two middle feathers partially banded with dirty 

 yellow ; the two outmost pair the same on the inner web ; the shafts 

 of the last golden in the middle ; legs obscure olive. This was a 

 female. 



Inhabits the dry and arid tracts of table land in the Sertem, or 

 inland country of the Province of Bahia, in South America ; and 

 unlike its tribe, said to have a short plaintive cry while flying, and 

 frequently perches on the tops of the straggling, stunted trees, which 

 afford such a contrast to the luxuriant vegetation of the coast. — Mr. 

 Swainson, from whose account these particulars are taken, esteems 

 it as a rare species, having seen it in no other collection than his 

 own. 



