Species V. PIOUS VARIUS. 
YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKEE. 
[Plate IX. Fig. 2.] 
Picns varius, Linn. Si/st. i., 176, 20. — Gmel. Sijst. i., 438. — Le pic varie de la Caro- 
line, Burr. VII., 77. Fl. Enl. 785. — Ydlow-bellied Woodpecker. Catesb. i., 21. — 
Arct. Zool. II., No. 166.— L.^th. Syn. ii., 574, 20. Id. Sup. p. 109. 
This beautiful species is one of our resident birds. It visits our 
orchards in the month of October, in great numbers ; is occasionally 
seen during the whole winter and spring ; but seems to seek the depths 
of the forest, to rear its young in ; for during summer, it is rarely seen 
among our settlements ; and even in the intermediate woods, I have 
seldom met with it in that season. According to Brisson, it inhabits 
the continent from Cayenne to Virginia ; and I may add, as far a-s to 
Hudson's Bay ; where according to Hutchins, they are called 3Iekisewe 
Pau'pastaow ;* they are also common in the states of Kentucky and 
Ohio, and have been seen in the neighborhood of St. Louis. They are 
reckoned by Georgi, among the birds that frequent the Liike Baikal, in 
Asia, I but their existence there has not been satisfactorily ascertained. 
The habits of this species are similar to those of the Hairy and 
Downy Woodpeckers, with which it generally associates ; and which are 
both represented in the same plate. The only nest of this bird which 
I have met with, was in the body of an old pear-tree, about ten or 
eleven feet from the ground. The hole was almost exactly circular, 
small for the size of the bird, so that it crept in and out with dilBculty, 
but suddenly widened, descending by a small angle, and then running 
downwards about fifteen inches. On the smooth solid wood lay four 
white eggs. This was about the twenty -fifth of May. Having no 
opportunity of visiting it afterwards, I cannot say whether it added any 
more eggs to the number ; I rather think it did not, as it appeared, at 
that time, to be sitting. 
The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is eight inches and a half long, and 
in extent fifteen inches ; whole crown a rich and deep scarlet, bordered 
with black on each side, and behind forming a slight crest, which it 
frequently erects ; % from the nostrils, which are thickly .covered with 
* Latham. t Ibid. 
X This circumstance seems to have been overlooked by naturalists. 
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