RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER, 



113 



BED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. (Picus Carolinus) 



PLATE VII.— Fig. 2. 



Picus Carolinus, Linn. Syst. i. 174, 10. — Pic varie de la Jamaique, Buffon, vii. 

 72. PL enl. 597. — Picus varius medius Jamaicensis, Sloan. Jam. 299, 15. — 

 Jamaica "Woodpecker, Echv. 244. — Catesb. i. 19, fig. 2. — Arct. Zool. ii. No. 

 161.— Lath. Syn. ii. 570, 17. Id. 571, 17 A. Id. /3.— L'Epeiche raye de la 

 Louisiane, Buff. vii. 73. PI. enl. 692.— Peale's Museum, No. 1944. 



COLAPTES CAROLINUS.— Swainson. 



Picus Carolinus, Bonap. Synop. p. 45. — Picus erythrauclien, Wagl. Syst. Av. 



No. 38. 



This species possesses all the restless and noisy habits so 

 characteristic of its tribe. It is more shy and less domestic 

 than the red-headed one (P. erythrocephalus), or any of the 

 other spotted woodpeckers. It is also more solitary. It 

 prefers the largest, high-timbered woods, and tallest decayed 

 trees of the forest ; seldom appearing near the ground, on the 

 fences, or in orchards, or open fields ; yet where the trees 

 have been deadened, and stand pretty thick, in fields of 

 Indian-corn, as is common in new settlements, I have 

 observed it to be very numerous, and have found its stomach 

 sometimes completely filled with that grain.* Its voice is 

 hoarser than any of the others ; and its usual note, clww, 



* This species will also range in the genus Colaptes, but will present 

 a more aberrant form. In it we have the compressed and. slightly bent 

 shape of the bill, becoming stronger and more angular ; we have the 

 barred plumage of the upper parts, but that of the head is uniform, and 

 only slightly elongated behind ; and in the wings and tail the shafts of 

 the quills lose their strength and beautiful colour. In Wilson's descrip- 

 tion of the habits, we also find them agreeing with the modifications of 

 form. It prefers the more solitary recesses of lofty forests ; and, though 

 capable of turning and twisting, and possessing a great part of the acti- 

 vity of the nuthatch and titmice, it seldom appears about orchards or 

 upon the ground ; yet it occasionally visits the cornfields, and feeds on 

 the grain ; and, as remarked above, is " capable of subsisting on coarser 

 and more various fare." These modifications of habit we shall always 

 find in unison with the structure ; and we cannot too much admire the 

 wisdom that has thus mutually adapted them to the various offices they 

 are destined to fill. — Ed. 



VOL. I. H 



