154 YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 



the breast ; throat, the same deep scarlet as the crown, 

 bordered with black, proceeding from the lower mandible on 

 each side, and spreading into a broad rounding patch on the 

 breast ; this black, in birds of the first and second year, is 

 dusky gray, the feathers being only crossed with circular 

 touches of black ; a line of white, and below it another of 

 black, proceed, the first from the upper part of the eye, the 

 other from the posterior half of the eye, and both lose them- 

 selves on the neck and back ; back, dusky yellow, sprinkled 

 and elegantly waved with black ; wings, black, with a large 

 oblong spot of white; the primaries, tipt and spotted with 

 white ; the three secondaries next the body are also variegated 

 with white; rump, white, bordered with black ; belly, yellow; 

 sides under the wings, more dusky yellow, marked with long 

 arrow-heads of black; legs and feet, greenish blue ; tail, black, 

 consisting of ten feathers, the two outward feathers on each 

 side tipt with white, the next totally black, the fourth edged 

 on its inner vane half way down with white, the middle one 

 white on its interior vane, and spotted with black ; tongue, 

 flat, horny for half an inch at the tip, pointed, and armed 

 along its sides with reflected barbs ; the other extremities of 

 the tongue pass up behind the skull in a groove, and end 

 near the right nostril ; in birds of the first and second year 

 the) 7 reach only to the crown ; bill, an inch long, channelled, 

 wedge-formed at the tip, and of a dusky horn colour. The 

 female is marked nearly as the male, but wants the scarlet on 

 the throat, which is whitish ; she is also darker under the 

 wings and on the sides of the breast. The young of the first 

 season, of both sexes, in October have the crown sprinkled 

 with black and deep scarlet ; the scarlet on the throat may 

 be also observed in the young males. The principal food of 

 these birds is insects ; and they seem particularly fond of 

 frequenting orchards, boring the trunks of the apple trees in 

 their eager search after them. On opening them, the liver 

 appears very large, and of a dirty gamboge colour; the 

 stomach strongly muscular, and generally filled with frag- 



