AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
183 
differing a little in different species. In some these carti- 
laginous substances reach only to the top of the cranium; 
in others they reach to the nostril; and in one species 
they are wound round the bone of the right eye, which 
projects considerably more than the left for its accommo- 
dation. 
The tongue of the Golden-winged Woodpecker, like 
the others, is also supplied with a viscid fluid, secreted by 
two glands, that lie under the ear on each side, and are at 
least five times larger in this species than in any other of 
its size; with this the tongue is continually moistened, so 
that every small insect it touches instantly adheres to it. 
The tail, in its strength and pointedness, as well as the 
feet and claws, prove that the bird was designed for climb- 
ing; and in fact I have scarcely ever seen it on a tree five 
minutes at a time without climbing; hopping not only up- 
wards and downwards, but spirally; pursuing and playing 
with its fellow, in this manner, round the body of the 
tree. I have also seen them a hundred times alight on the 
trunk of the tree; though they more frequently alight on 
the branches; but that they climb, construct like nests, 
lay the same number, and the like coloured eggs, and have 
the manners and habits of the Wookpeckers, is notorious 
to every American naturalist; while neither in the form 
of their body, nor any other part, except in the bill being 
somewhat bent, and the toes placed two before, and two 
behind, have they the smallest resemblance whatever to 
the Cuckoo. 
It may not be improper, however, to observe, that there 
is another species of Woodpeckers, called also Golden- 
winged, which inhabits the country near the Cape of Good 
Hope, and resembles the present, it is said, almost exactly 
in the colour and form of its bill, and in the tint and 
markings of its plumage; with this difference, that the 
mustaches are 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 considerably less. With 
respect to the habits of this new species, we have no par- 
ticular account; but there is little doubt that they will 
be found to correspond with the one we are now describ- 
ing. 
The abject and degraded character which the count de 
Buffon, with equal eloquence and absurdity, has drawn of 
the whole tribe of Woodpeckers, belongs not to the ele- 
gant and sprightly bird now before us. IIow far it is ap- 
plicable 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 
sufficient for the wants of a whole week. He cannot be 
said to “lead a mean and gloomy life, without an inters 
mission of labour,” who usually feasts by the first peep of 
dawn, and spends the early, and sweetest hours of morn- 
ing. 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 together; for such are really his habits. Can it be 
said that “ necessity never grants an interval of sound re- 
pose” to that bird, who, while other tribes are exposed to 
all the peltings of the midnight storm, lodges dry and se- 
cure in a snug chamber of his own constructing? or that 
“ the narrow circumference of a tree circumscribes his 
dull round of life,” who, as seasons and inclination in- 
spire, 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,” be- 
cause he so often varies his bill of fare, occasionally pre- 
ferring to animal food the rich milkiness of young Indian 
corn, and the wholesome and nourishing 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 melancho- 
ly!” It is truly ridiculous and astonishing that such ab- 
surdities should escape the lips or pen of one so able to do 
justice to the respective merits of every species; but Buf- 
fon had too often a favourite theory to prop up, that led 
him insensibly astray; and so, forsooth, the whole family 
of Woodpeckers must look sad, sour, and be miserable, 
to satisfy the caprice of a whimsical philosopher, who 
takes it into his head that they are, and ought to be so. 
i But the count is not the only European who has misre- 
presented and traduced this beautiful bird. One has given 
him brown legs, another a yellow neck; a third has de- 
clared him a Cuckoo, and in an English translation of 
Linnaeus’ System of Nature, lately published, he is cha- 
racterized as follows: “transversely striate with black and 
gray; chin and breast black; does not climb trees;” which 
is just as correct as if, in describing the human species, 
we should say — skin striped with black and green; cheeks 
blue; chin orange; never walks on foot, &c. The pages 
of natural history should resemble a faithful mirror, in 
which mankind may recognize the true images of the liv- 
ing originals; instead of which we find this department of 
them, too often, like the hazy and rough medium of wretch- 
ed window' glass, through whose crooked protuberances 
every thing appears so strangely distorted, that one 
scarcely knows their most intimate neighbours and ac- 
quaintance. 
The Golden-winged Woodpecker has the back and 
wings above of a dark umber, transversely marked with 
equidistant streaks of black; upper part of the head an. 
