676 



APPENDIX. 



[No. V. 



mandible ; in the mature bird the whole back as well as the head is black, and the^ 

 bright colour on the breast is separated from the bill by the black which passes 

 under the chin. It is a beautiful and elegant bird. The Cree Indians distinguish it 

 by a name indicative of the strength of its bill. 



Fringilla Pecoris. Cowpen-bird. 



Very little more than the name and general appearance of this extraordinary 

 bird was known until the publication of Wilson, and that little seems to have been 

 derived from Catesby's meagre account. Wilson, most correctly observing that it 

 ought not to be ranked as a Fringilla, has called it an Emberiza, but it seems to have 

 greater affinity to Oriolus, though not exactly according with that genus. It passes 

 the winter in the lower provinces of the United States, moving northward in the 

 spring, associating with the Red-winged Orioles and Purple Grackles, and lives more 

 on insect food than on grain, collecting its nourishment among the herds of cattle, 

 whence its common name. A male specimen alone was received ; it is eight inches 

 long, the whole head is dark-brown, and the entire remainder of the plumage 

 glossy black. The female is said to be brown and not black, with the head propor- 

 tionably lighter. The great peculiarity of this bird, first brought into notice by 

 Wilson, is that, like the Common Cuckoo, it deposits its eggs in the nests of other 

 and smaller birds, who hatch, feed, and rear the obtruded offspring of the interloper. 

 Wilson's account of this circumstance and narrative of the discovery, is particularly 

 clear and interesting. 



Picus Auratus. Golden- winged Woodpecker. 

 America abounds in Woodpeckers, but this species seems to extend over a greater 

 portion of it, than any other. Hearne states that it is the only one which is found 

 in the northern parts of Hudson's Bay. It spreads far to the south in the United 

 States, and was observed by Captain Cook at Nootka Sound. It migrates to the more 

 southern parts of its range in the winter, though Hearne states that they are 

 found in Hudson's Bay during that season; whilst Forster says that they come to 

 Albany in April, and depart in September. These birds are dressed for the table 

 by the Americans, and are occasionally sold in the markets for such purpose. 

 Linnaeus first described the species in the tenth edition of the Systema Naturce from 

 Catesby, and misled by the shape of the bill, which is more curved and pointed than 

 in others of the genus Picus, made it a Cuculus ; he subsequently, however, changed 

 its position. There seem to have been other errors respecting this bird ; it was 

 considered not to be a climber, nor to take any part of its food from under the bark 

 of trees, but Wilson, from personal observation, has contradicted both these sup- 

 positions. The specimen is that of a female, as it wants the black stripe on 



