GOLD-WINGED WOODPECKER* 



49 



or sheath; descend into the upper mandible by the right side of 

 the right nostril, and reach to within half an inch of the point of 

 the bill, to which they are attached by another extremely elastic 

 membrane, that yields when the tongue is thrown out^ and con- 

 tracts as it is retracted. In the other Woodpeckers we behold the 

 same apparatus, differing a little in different species. In some 

 these cartilaginous substances reach only to the top of the cranium ; 

 in others they reach to the nostril ; and in one species they are 

 wound round the bone of the right eye, which projects considera^ 

 bly more than the left for its accommodation. 



The tongue of the Gold-winged Woodpecker, like the others^ 

 is also supplied with a viscid fluid, secreted by two glands that lie 

 under the ear on each side, and are at least five times larger in this 

 species than in any other of its size; with this the tongue is con- 

 tinually moistened, so that every small insect it touches instantly 

 adheres to it. The tail, in its strength and pointedness, as well as 

 the feet and claws, prove that the bird was designed for climbing ; 

 and in fact I have scarcely ever seen it on a tree five minutes at a 

 time without climbing; hopping not only upwards and downwards 

 but spirally; pursuing and playing with its fellow, in this manner 

 round the body of the tree. I have also seen them, a hundred times 

 alight on the trunk of the tree; tho they more frequently alight 

 on the branches; but that they climb, construct like nests, lay the 

 same number and the like colored eggs, and have the manners and 

 habits of the Woodpeckers, is notorious to every American natu- 

 ralist ; w hile neither in the form of their body, nor any other part, 

 except in the bill being somewhat bent, and the toes placed two 

 before and two behind, have they the smallest resemblance what- 

 ever to the Cuckoo. 



It may not be improper, however, to observe, that there is 

 another species of Woodpecker, called also Gold-winged,* which 



* Piciis cafer, Turton's Linn. 



O 



