YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER 



149 



with reflected barbs; the other extremities of the tongue pass up 

 behind the scull in a groove, and end near the right nostril; in 

 birds of the first and second year they reach only to the crown ; 

 bill an inch long, channelled, wedge-formed at the tip, and of a 

 dusky horn color. The female is marked nearly as the male, but 

 wants the scarlet on the throat, which is whitish; she is also darker 

 under the wings and on the sides of the breast. The young of the 

 first season, of both sexes, in October, have the crown sprinkled 

 with black and deep scarlet ; the scarlet on the throat may be also 

 observed in the young males. The principal food of these birds is 

 insects ; and they seem particularly fond of frequenting orchards, 

 boring the trunks of the apple trees in their eager search after 

 them. On opening them the liver appears very large, and of a 

 dirty gamboge color; the stomach strongly muscular, and gene- 

 rally filled with fragments of beetles and gravel. In the morning 

 they are extremely active in the orchards, and rather shyer than 

 the rest of their associates. Their cry is also different, but tho 

 it is easily distinguishable in the woods, cannot be described by 

 words. 



