113 



RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 

 PICUS CAROLINUS. 

 [Plate VIL— Fig. 2.] 



Picus Carolinus, Linn. Syst. I, 174, 10. — Pic varie cle la Jamaiqiie, Bufpon VII, 12, PL 

 enl. 597. — Picus varius medius Jatnaicensis, Sloan. Jam. 299, 15. — Jamaica TFoodpecker, 

 Edw. 244.— Catesb. I, 19, Jig. 2.—Jrct. Zool. II, JVo. 161.— Lath. Syn. II, 570, 17. 

 Id. 571, 17. J. Id. B. — VEpeiche raye de la Louisiane, Buff. VII, 73. PI. enl. 692.— 

 Pe ale's Museum, JVo. 1944. 



THIS species possesses all the restless and noisy habits so 

 characteristic of its tribe. It is more shy and less domestic than 

 the Red-headed one, (P. erythrocephalus^) or any of the other spot- 

 ted Woodpeckers. It is also more solitary. It prefers the largest, 

 high-timbered woods, and tallest decayed trees of the forest; sel- 

 dom appearing near the ground, on the fences, or in orchards or 

 open fields; yet where the trees have been deadened, and stand 

 pretty thick, in fields of Indian corn, as is common in new settle- 

 ments, I have observed it to be very numerous ; and have found its 

 stomach sometimes completely filled with that grain. Its voice is 

 hoarser than any of the others ; and its usual note chozv, has often 

 reminded me of the barking of a little lap-dog. It is a most expert 

 climber, possessing extraordinary strength in the muscles of its 

 feet and claws, and moves about the body and horizontal limbs of 

 the trees, with equal facility in all directions. It rattles, like the 

 rest of the tribe, on the dead limbs, and with such violence as to 

 be heard, in still weather, more than half a mile off; and listens to 

 hear the insects it has alarmed. In the lower side of some lofty 

 branch that makes a considerable angle with the liorizon, the male 

 and female in conjunction dig out a circular cavity for their nest, 

 sometimes out of the solid wood, but more generally into a hollow 



G g 



