GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 
169 
is not seen •vylien the bird is flying, at wliicli time it is very prominent ; 
the tail is tapering, the featliers being very convex above and strong ; 
the legs are of a leaden gray color, very short, scarcely half an inch, 
the toes very long, the claws strong and semicircular, and of a pale 
blue ; the bill is fluted, sharply ridged, very broad at the base, bluish 
black above, below and at the point bluish white ; the eye is of a bright 
golden color ; the pupil black ; the tongue, like those of its tribe, is 
worm-shaped, except near the tip, where for one-eighth of an inch it is 
horny, pointed, and beset with barbs. 
The female has the forehead, and nearly to the crown, of a light 
brown color, and the mustaches are dusky instead of red. In both, a 
fine line of white separates the red crest from the dusky line that passes 
over the eye. 
Species III. PICUS AURATUS. 
GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 
[Plate III. Fig. 1.] 
Le Pic aux ailes dordcs, Buffon, vn., 39. PL Enl. 693. — Picus auratus, Linn. Syst. 
174. — Cuc.ulus alls de auratis, Klein, p. 30. — Catesby, i., 18. — Latham, ii., 597. 
Bartram, p. 289.* 
This elegant bird is well known to our farmers and junior sports- 
men, who take every opportunity of destroying him ; the former for the 
supposed trespasses he commits on their Indian corn, or the trifle he will 
bring in market, and the latter for the mere pleasure of destruction, and 
perhaps for the flavor of his flesh, which is in general esteem. In the 
state of Pennsylvania he can scarcely be called a bird of passage, as 
even in severe winters they may be found within a few miles of the city 
of Philadelphia ; and I have known them exposed for sale in market 
every week during the months of November, December and January, 
and that too in more than commonly rigorous weather. They, no doubt, 
partially migrate, even here ; being much more numerous in spring and 
fall than in winter. Early in the month of April they begin to prepare 
their nest, which is built in the hollow body or branch of a tree, some- 
times, though not always, at a considerable height from- the ground ; for 
I have frequently known them fix on the trunk of an old apple-tree, 
* We add the following synonymes: — Cuculus auratus, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, 1, 
112. — Gmel. Syst. I., 430. — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 242. — Picus Canadensis striatus, 
Briss. 4, 72.— Penn. Arci. Zool. No. 158. 
