GOLD-WINGED WOODPECKER. 



51 



ness of young Indian corn, and the wholesome and nourishing ber- 

 ries of the Wild Cherry, Sour Gum, and Red Cedar? Let the rea- 

 der turn to the faithful representation of him given in the plate, 

 and say whether his looks be " sad and melancholy It is truly 

 ridiculous and astonishing that such absurdities should escape the 

 lips or pen of one so able to do justice to the respective merits of 

 every species ; but Buffon had too often a favorite theory to prop 

 up that led him insensibly astray ; and so, forsooth, the w hole fa- 

 mily of Woodpeckers must look sad, sour, and be miserable, to 

 satisfy the caprice of a whimsical philosopher who takes it into his 

 head that they are, and ought to be so. 



But the count is not the only European who has misrepre- 

 sented and traduced this beautiful bird. One has given him brown 

 legs,^ another a yellow neck;t a third has declared him a Cuckoo 

 and in an English translation of Linnaeus' System of Nature, lately 

 published, he is characterized as follows: "Body striated with black 

 and grey; cheeks red; chin black; never climbs on trees ;''§ which 

 is just as correct as if in describing the human species we should 

 say — skin striped with black and green; cheeks blue; chin orange; 

 never walks on foot, &c. The pages of natural history should re- 

 semble a faithful mirror, in which mankind may recognize the 

 true images of the living originals ; instead of which we find this 

 department of them, too often, like the hazy and rough medium of 

 wretched window glass, thro whose crooked protuberances every 

 thing appears so strangely distorted, that one scarcely knows their 

 most intimate neighbours and acquaintances. 



The Gold-winged Woodpecker has the back and wings above 

 of a dark umber, transversely marked with equi-distant streaks of 

 black; upper part of the head an iron grey; cheeks and parts sur- 

 rounding the eyes a fine cinnamon color; from the lower mandible 



* See Encyc. Brit. Art. Pic us. f Latham. % Klein. 



X "P. griseo nigroque transversim striatus'' — " truncos arhorum non scandit.''^ Ind. 

 Orn. V. I, p. 242, 



