GOLDEN-WINGED 
WOODPECKER. 
173 
red instead of black, and the lower side of the wings, as well as their 
shafts, are also red, where the other is golden yellow. It is also con- 
siderably less. "With respect to the habits of this new species, we have 
no particular account ; but there is little doubt that they will be found 
to correspond with the one we are now describing. 
The abject and degraded character which the Count de Buffon, with 
equal eloquence and absurdity, has drawn of the whole tribe of Wood- 
peckers, belongs not to the elegant and sprightly bird now before us. 
How far it is applicable to any of them will be examined hereafter. He 
is not " constrained to drag out an insipid existence in boring the bark 
and hard fibres of trees to extract his prey," for he frequently finds in 
the loose mouldering ruins of an old stump (the capital of a nation of 
pismires), more than is suiScient for the wants of a whole Aveek. He 
cannot be said to " lead a mean and gloomy life, without an intermission 
of laljor," who usually feasts by the first peep of daAvn, and spends the 
early, and sweetest hours of morning, on the highest peaks of the tallest 
trees, calling on his mate or companions ; or pursuing and gamboling 
with them round the larger limbs and body of the tree for hours toge- 
ther ; for such are really his habits. Can it be said that "necessity 
never grants an interval of sound repose" to that bird, who, while other 
tribes are exposed to all the peltings of the midnight storm, lodges dry 
and secure in a snug chamber of his own constructing? or that "the 
narrow circumference of a tree circumscribes Ids dull round of life," 
who, as seasons and inclination inspire, roams from the frigid to the 
torrid zone, feasting on the abundance of various regions ? Or is it a 
proof that "his appetite is never softened by delicacy of taste," because 
he so often varies his bill of fare, occasionally preferring to animal food 
the rich milkiness of young Indian corn, and the wholesome and nourish- 
ing berries of the Wild Cherry, Sour Gum, and Red Cedar ? Let the 
reader 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 insen- 
sibly astray ; and so, forsooth, the wliole family of Woodpeckere must 
look sad, sour, and be miserable, to satisfy the caprice of a whimsical 
philosoj>her, who takes it into his head that they are, and ought to 
be, so. 
But tlie count is not the only European who has misrepresented and 
traduced this beautiful bird. One has given him brown legs,* another 
a yellow neck ;f a third has declared him a Cuckoo, J and in an English 
translation of Linnseus's System of Nature, lately published, he is char- 
* See Encyl. Brit. Art. Picus. 
f Latham. 
% Klein. 
