48 



GOLD-WINGED WOODPECKER, 



the sour gum greedily, small winter grapes, and several other kinds 

 of berries ; exercised himself frequently in climbing, or rather hop- 

 ping perpendicularly along the sides of the cage ; and as evening 

 drew on, fixed himself in a high hanging or perpendicular position, 

 and slept with his head in his wing. As soon as dawn appeared, 

 even before it was light enough to perceive him distinctly across 

 the room, he descended to the bottom of the cage, and began his 

 attack on the ears of Indian corn, rapping so loud as to be heard 

 from every room in the house. After this he would sometimes re- 

 sume his former position, and take another nap. He was begin- 

 ning to become very amusing, and even sociable, when, after a 

 lapse of several weeks, he became drooping, and died, as I con- 

 ceived from the effects of his wound. 



Some European naturalists, (and among the rest Linnaeus 

 himself, in his tenth edition of Systema Naturae,) have classed this 

 bird with the genus Cuculus, or Cuckoo, informing their readers 

 that it possesses many of the habits of the Cuckoo; that it is almost 

 always on the ground; is never seen to climb trees like the other 

 Woodpeckers, and that its bill is altogether unlike theirs ; every 

 one of which assertions I must say is incorrect, and could have 

 only proceeded from an entire unacquaintance with the manners 

 of the bird. Except in the article of the bill, and that, as has been 

 before observed, is still a little wedge-formed at the point, it differs 

 in no one characteristic from the rest of its genus. Its nostrils are 

 covered with tufts of recumbent hairs or small feathers ; its tongue 

 is round, worm-shaped, flattened towards the tip, pointed and fur- 

 nished with minute barbs; it is also long, missile, and can be instan- 

 taneously protruded to an uncommon distance. The os hyiiides, 

 or internal parts of the tongue, like those of its tribe, is a substance 

 for strength and elasticity, resembling whalebone, divided into two 

 branches, each the thickness of a knitting kneedle, that pass, one 

 on each side of the neck, to the hind head, where they unite, and 

 run up along the scull in a groove covered with a thin membrane 



