WOODPECKER. 395 



67.— RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. 



Picus erythrocephalus, Ind. Orn.\. 227. Lin.\. 174. Mus. Ad. Fr. ii. p. 21. Gm. 



Lin. i. 429. .Bor. Nat. ii. 136. 4. Brw, iv. 52. t. 3. f. 1. Id. 8vo. ii. 56. Gerin. 



t. 176. Spalowsk, iii. t. 15. Vieill. Am. ii. 60. 

 Picus capite colloque rubris, Klein. An. 21. 12. Kalm. It. iii. t. 43. 

 Pic noir, a domino rouge, de Virginie, Buf. vii. 55. PI. enl. 117* 

 Red-headed Woodpecker, Gen. Syn. ii. 561. Cat. Car. i. t. 20. Arct. Zool. ii. No. 160. 



A'a/m. TV. -Eng/. ii. p. 86. Bartr. Trav. p. 217. Natur. Misc. pi. 126. Gen. 



Zool. ix. 153. 



LENGTH eight inches and three quarters ; weight two ounces. 

 Bill one inch and a quarter long, lead-colour, with a black tip ; 

 irides dusky ; the head, and whole of the neck crimson ; back and 

 wings black ; rump, breast, and belly white ; the ten first quills are 

 black, the eleventh black and white, the others white, with black 

 shafts ; tail cuneiform, black ; legs lead-colour. Both sexes nearly 

 alike. The young bird is brown, beneath from the breast dusky white ; 

 quills and rump as in the old birds, without the crimson head and 

 neck. Some, perhaps not quite perfect in plumage, have the head 

 and neck red, with several stripes of brown on the crown and cheeks; 

 wings brown ; under parts and rump white. 



Inhabits Virginia, Carolina, Canada, and most parts of North 

 America; appears generally in April; but migrates southward at 

 the approach of winter, according to the severity of the season ; and 

 upon this circumstance the people of North America foretell the 

 rigour, or clemency of the ensuing winter; it is a very common bird, 

 and very destructive to the maize fields and orchards, pecking 

 through the ears of maize, and destroying great quantities of apples; 

 in some years are more numerous ; when they attack the orchards, 

 where the sweet apples grow, which they eat so far, that nothing 

 remains but the peels. Some years since a premium of twopence 

 per head was paid from the public fund, in order to extirpate so 

 pernicious a bird, but this has been much neglected ; some aver, that 

 they are very fond of acorns ; they are frequently seen in Virginia and 



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