woodpecker 
woodpecker (wiid'pek'er), n. Any bird of the 
large family PichJse. of which there arc numer- 
ous genera and some 250 species, inhabiting 
nearly all parts of the world. They are picariaii 
and scaiisorial birds, having the toes arranged in pairs, 
two before and two behind (except, of course, in the three- 
toed genera : see Pic&idesl, and cut under Ti;/a) ; the tail- 
feathers rigid and acuminate, to assist in climbing; the 
bill hard and chisel-like, adapted for boring wood (whence 
the name); and a remarkable structure of the palatal and 
hyoidean bones and salivary glands. (See cuts under sali- 
vary And saurofftiathotcs.) The tongue is capable, in most 
species, of being thrust far out of the mouth, and is lum- 
briciform. (See cut under m<jittili)igual.) The plumage 
as a rule is variegated in intricate patterns of coloration, 
andusually incl udes bright, rich, or striking tints. Insects 
constitute most of their food; their eggs arc white, and 
are laid in holes they dig in trees ; their voice is harsh and 
abrupt. They are of great service to man by destroying 
insects which infest trees. See Picidse, and numerous 
cuts there cited— Arizona woodpecker, Picus (Dendro- 
copwt) arizoniv, a bird lately discovered in Arizona, and 
for some time called Picus stricklandi, but distinct from 
Strickland's woodpecker in having the upper parts of a 
uniform light-brown color and the spots of tlie under 
parts guttiform. Uarffiii, Ibis, 18r>0, p. 115.— Audubon'S 
woodpecker, the small southern form of the hairy wood- 
pecker (whiL-h see), named Picus auduhoni by W. Swaiii- 
son in 1S31, and renamed Pieiis audifboni by Dr. .lames 
Trudeau in 183", without reference to the prior homonym. 
— Ayres'a woodpecker, ColapUs ayredi of Audubon 
(183;)), C. hi/bndu:^ of Baird (1858), Picus hyhridus aurafo- 
m^nVfljms of Sundevall (1866), names covering the remark- 
able flickers of western North America, especially of the 
upper Missouri and adjacent regions, which present every 
step of the intergradation between the yellow-shafted and 
the red-shafted flickers (C. aiiratm and C. mexicamts); 
the so-called hybrid woodpecker. The coloration is so 
unstable that it often varies on right and left sides of the 
same specimen. The case is unique, and its interpretation 
continues in question by ornithologists. — Balrd'fl wood- 
pecker, (a) The Cnlian ivorybill, CampophUus bairdi, 
named by J. Cassin, in 1863, in compliment to Spencer 
Fullerton Baird (lb23-1887). (6) The Californian wood- 
pecker, Melanerpes formicivoms bairdi. — Bengal wood- 
pecker, var. A, Brachypternus erythronotus, of (.'eylon. 
Latham, 17S2.— Bengal woodpecker, var. B, Chrysoco- 
laptes lucidiis, of the Philippines. Latham, 178'2.— Black- 
and- White-spot ted woodpeckers, the numerous mem- 
bers of the restricted genus Picus (= Dendrncapus: see 
under yreat black woodpecker, below), usually Oto H) inches 
long, with four toes, the plumage variegated intricately 
with blackand white, with a scarlet occipital band or pair 
of spots in the adult male. The greater and lesser spotted 
woodpeckers of England, and the hairy and downy wood- 
peckers of the United States, are characteristic examples. 
— Black-backed three-toed woodpecker, Picoides 
arcticus, marked by the characteis indicated in the name, 
!) to 11) inches long, common in northerly parts of North 
America. — Black-breasted woodpecker, the adult fe- 
male of the thyroid woodpecker.— Black woodpecker, 
the great black woodpecker.— Bristle-belUed wood- 
peckers, the genus Asytidesmtig. Cones.— Brown- 
beaded woodpecker, the adult female of Sphyrojncux 
ihyroides ; the thyroid woodpecker (see below).— Buff- 
crested woodpecker (of Latham, 1782), the female of 
Campophilun iwlanoleucus (the Picus albirostris of Vieil- 
lot), a white-billed crested woodpecker of tiopical .Amer- 
ica, 13^ inches long, congeneric with the ivorybill.— Cac- 
tus woodpecker, Picus or Melanerj^es cactnrum, of Peru, 
Bolivia, Uruguay, and the Argentine Kepnblie.-- Califor- 
nian woodpecker, that race of Melanerpes formicivorus 
(a MexiL-an species) which abounds in the United States 
from the Kocky Mountains to the Pacilic. It is 8.1 to !)i 
inches long, of a glossy blue-black color, with the rump, 
bases of all the quills, edge of the wing, and under parts 
from the breast white, the siiles with sparse black streaks, 
the forehead white continuimsly with a stripe down in 
front of the eye and thence encircling the throat, the crown 
in the male crimson and white, in the female crimson, 
black, and white, tlie eyes white, often with a creamy or 
pinkish, sometimes bluish, tint. This is the woodpecker 
noted for drilling holes in dead bonghs in which to insert 
acorns — some branches being found thus (hilled ami 
studded with hundreds (jf acorns.— Canadian wood- 
pecker, the large northern form of the hairy woodpecker 
(which see), formerly Piciis canadensis (Omelin, 1788), and 
before that Picas leucouielas (Boddaert, 1783), — Cape 
woodpecker, the South African Mcsopicus griseocephalns. 
7^ inches long, having the crr)wn, crest, rump, upper tail- 
coverts, afid middle of the belly crimson. This bird wasori- 
giuaily described in 1770 by Sonnini as pic verd de I Isle do 
Lu-on, whence Picwt mnnilletm^ of Omelin (i788), and Ma- 
nilla fjreen woodpecker of Latlnim ; next by Buffon in 1780 
•A^pic d Uie (/rise du Cap de lionne J'Jsp^rance, whence /'/■ 
cus ffrineocephaln.^ oi BoiM'devt (17 H:i) and Cape woodpecker ; 
next by Scopoli in 1786 as Piciis 7nrnst ru us — thi» most 
frequent specific name indicating the bloody-red color of 
certain parts; next as jy/coiui(?by Levaill:\nt(18(X>); also as 
Picu>i caaiceps, P. obscurxs, P. capensis. It has been placed 
in 6 dirterent genera ; its proper onym was first given by 
Ca.'isin in 1863.— Carolina woodpecker, var. A, Melaner- 
pes or Centurus rad!(>lnfu-% p(;culiar to Jamaica. Latham, 
i78->.— Carolina woodpecker, var. B, the red bellied 
woodpecker. Latham, 178:2. — Collared Woodpecker, 
Asyndesiatts torquatus ; Lewis's woodpecker. -- Craw- 
furd'S woodpecker, a bird so named byOray in Orittlth's 
Cuvier (1820). now called Thripon^ax crawfurdi, iind su])- 
posed to be found near Ava in Burma, but known only 
from a drawing executed by a native iirtist for Mr. Craw- 
furd. Jr.— Crimson-breasted woodpecker, the mono- 
typic (r^ocolaptes oHvaceus (;dso Picas arnt»r), of South 
Africa, U\ to 10 inches long, nuich varieil with olivaceous 
and reddi.sh tints. Latham, 1783.-- Crlmson-rumped 
woodpecker, MesopicnM yoerlan. the yiu-ftdn or ytc vert 
du Sn^f/al of early French writers, a West Afiicaii species, 
8 inches long, of a golden-olive color above, with scarlet 
rump and upper tail-coverts, and otherwise nnich varie- 
gated.— Cuban woodpecker, Nesoceleus fernandince, 
usually called Colapfes ff^niandinse and Cidmn jUcker, II.', 
to 1^ inches long, above olive-black l)an-ed with yellow^ 
and confined to Cuba.— Downy woodpecker, J'irifs 
6968 
(Dendrocopus) pubescens, a small black and white species, 
6 or 7 inches long, one of the commonest woodpeckers of 
eastern parts of North America, and among those popularly 
called sajysucker (which see). It is exactly like the hairy 
woodpecker, except in size, and in having the lateral tail- 
feathers bai-red with black and white, instead of being 
entirely white. Tliere is no such difference between the 
two as the terms d<'wny and hairy would seem to imply. 
This species corresponds in the United States to the lesser 
spotted woodpecker of England.— Galrdner*s wood- 
pecker, Picus pubescens gairdneri, the western subspecies 
of the downy woodpecker, having few if any white spots 
on the black wing-coverts, and in some localities the belly 
smoky-gray: dedicated by Audubon in I839tolJr. Meredith 
(iairdner, a Scotch naturalist. — Gila woodpecker, the 
saguaro or pitahaya woodpecker. See cwt wnAer pitahaya. 
— Gilded woodpecker. («) An American flicker of the 
genus Colapt4Js, as the golden-winged woodpecker, C au- 
ratus. See cut under /*c^er-. (6) Specitlcally,oneof these, 
C. chrysoides, of Arizona, Lower California, and southward, 
which resembles the common flicker in the body, tail, and 
wings, but has the head as in the Mexican flicker. — 
Golden-shafted, golden-winged, gold-winged wood- 
pecker, the common flicker, Colaptes auratus.—GTB.y- 
neaded woodpecker, Gedmts canus, a popinjay of nearly 
all Europe and much of Asia. Penmmt, 1785, and more 
fully gray-headed green woodpecker (Edwards, 1747).— 
Grayson's woodpecker, the ladder -backed woodpecker 
of the Ties Marias Islands off the Pacific coast of Mexico, 
named after Col. A. J. Grayson by Lawrence, in 1874, Pi- 
cus scalaris, var. graysoni. — Great black woodpecker, 
Picus or Dryocopus martius, the largest European wood- 
pecker, ranging in northerly latitudes through the Pale- 
arctic region io Kamchatka and Japan. It is 17 inches 
long, black, with pointed scarlet crest in the male (the 
scarlet restricted in the female), and peculiar in having 
the tarsi extensively feathered. It corresponds to the 
pileated woodpecker of North America. Many authors 
assume this isolated woodpecker to be monotypic of the 
restricted genus Picus, in which case the numerous small- 
er black and white species like the greater and lesser 
spotted of Europe, and the hairy and downy of North 
America, are generically called Dendrocopus; but when 
these are left in Picus, the great black woodpecker 
is generically called Dryocopus, and upon it have also 
been based two other genera, Carbonarius of Kaup (1829) 
and Dryopicos [sic] of Malherbe (181S-9). See cut un- 
der z>rvocopus.— Greater spotted woodpecker, Pict/^ 
(Dendrocopus) major, ranging tlu-ough nearly all of Europe 
and much of Asia. This is one of the woodpeckers com- 
mon in Great Britain, there corresponding to the haii->- 
woodpecker of the United States. It is 10 inches long, of 
black and white color in intricate pattern, the male with 
a red hindhead. See cut under Pictis.— GTeen wood- 
pecker, Gecimis viridis, the commonest woodpecker in 
(jreat Britain, with a host of provincial English names, 
dialectal variants of these, and various poetical epithets, 
but only about twenty New Latin names. (See cut under 
pojnnjay.) The genus GeanHJ* ranges through almost all 
the Palearctic and Indian regions, whei-e it is represented 
by 17 species. That mentioned inhabits the greater part 
of Europe, north to 60° N. lat., also Asia Minor and east- 
ward to Persia. It is about 12.\ inches long, of a greenish 
c(dor, variegated with crimson, yellow, white, black, etc.— 
Green woodpecker of Mexicot, a bird descrii)ed in 1734 
by Seba as Ardea inexicana, and later in 1760 by Brisson as 
pic verd du Mexique, being a popinjay artificially fitted 
with the legs of some other bird and falslfled as to habitat. 
-Hairy woodpecker. Picas (Dendrocopus) lillosus, a 
connnon woodpecker of eastern North America, entirely 
black and white, the male with a scarlet occipital band, 
the size usually 9 or 10 inches, but varying from 8 to 11. 
This very exceptional gradation in size has caused the 
recognition of three varieties, major, medius, and minor, 
graded mainly according to latitude, the northernmost 
l»irds being the largest. These varieties have several 
synonyms, and in western North America the hairy wood- 
pe(rker runs into yet other geographical or climatic races. 
— Half-billed woodpeckert (Latham. 1782). a nominal 
species, based on Picus semirnsti-is of Linnjcus (1766), which 
was a popinjay with a broken bill.— Harris's wood- 
pecker, Picun villosus harri,si, the hairy woodpecker of 
the regions from the Rocky ilountains to the Pacific, in 
which the white spots on the wing-coverts are few, if any, 
and the belly is smoky-gray in some localities. This sub- 
species is thus parallel with that of the downy woodpecker 
called Gairdner's, and was dedicated by Audubon in 1839 
to Edward Harris. — Hybrid woodpecker, Ayres's woud- 
jjccker.- Imperial woodpecker, CamjJophUus imperi- 
ali-s, an ivory-billed and the largest known woodpecker, 
nearly 2 feet long, with black nasal plumules, no white 
stripe on the head or neck, a long occipital crest of scarlet, 
the secondaries tipped with white, the plumage otherwise 
black, and the bill white. This magnificent bird inhabits 
Mexico, and will probably be found in the I'nited States 
near the Mexican border.— Ivory-billed woodpecker, 
the ivoiybill; any member of the genus Campophilu.9 
having a white bill. See cut under CampophUus. — Javan 
three-toed woodpecker, the bird figured under Tiyn 
(which see).— Ladder-backed three-toed woodpeck- 
er, Picoides atnericamis, marked by the characters indi- 
cated in the name, 8 to 9 inches long, common in northerly 
parts of North America. — Ladder-backed woodpeckers, 
thc)se small black-and-white-spotted woodpeckers whose 
upper parts are regularly barred crosswise with black and 
wliite, as the Texan woodpecker and related forms. Coues. 
— Larger red-crested woodpecker, the pileated wood- 
pecker. Catcsby, 1731.— Largest white-billed wood- 
pecker, the ivorybill. Catesby, 1731. — Lesser black 
woodpecker (Latham, 1782), the homonym of two dillei-- 
ent species of South American woodpeckers, Melanerpes 
ruhrifrons and M. cruentattts.-'Le^^QT spotted wood- 
pecker, Picas (Dendrocopus) minor, ranging through near- 
ly all Europe, much of Asia, and parts of .Africa. It is 
one of the woodpeckers common in Great Britain, where it 
correpponds to the downy woodpecker of the l' nitcd States. 
It is 6 inches long, of black and white color in intricate 
pattern, the male with a red liindhcad. — Lewis*s wood- 
pecker, Asyndesniua torquatus of Ctnies. originally I^'cus 
torqnafus(}f Wilson (1811), named by the latter after its dis- 
coverer. Captain Meriwether Lewis, United States army. 
It inhabits western North America, chiefiy in mountainous 
jKirts of the Initcd States, and is generically distinct from 
woodpecker 
all other woodpeckers in having the plumage of the under 
parts hair-like by reason of disconnection of the barlw of 
the feathers. It is 10 to 12 inches long, greenish-black 
with bronze luster, a patch of velvety crimson feathers on 
the face, the under parts and a collar round the neck 
hoarj'-gray, heightened to rose- or lake-red on the belly. 
Also called collared and bristle-bellied woodpecker.— JAjie- 
ated woodpecker, Ceophlceus or Dryocopus (formerly /*i- 
n(S)^in«rt(^«, of Central and South America, of rather large 
size (14 inches long), crested with crimson, and otherwise 
resembling the pileated woodpecker, to which it is nearly 
related.— Little brown woodpecker, lyngipicus gynv- 
nophthalmus, of Ceylon and the point of the Indian 
peninsula, 4^ inches long. Latham, 1787.— Magellanic 
woodpecker, Ipocrantor magellanicua, a monotypic spe- 
cies ofChili and Patagonia, 15 inches long, mostly blue- 
black with scarlet crested head.— Malaccan wood- 
pecker, Chrysophlegma malaccensis, of the Malay coun- 
tries, Sumatra, and Borneo. It is one of a group of about 
8 Oriental species of this genus. Latham, 1787.— Manilla 
green woodpecker, the Cape woodpecker (by a geo- 
graphical blunder). Latftam, 1782.— Maria's Wood- 
pecker, a young hairy woodpecker, named Picus martins 
by Audubon in 1830 after a Miss ilaria Martin. — Masked 
woodpeckers, the genus Xenopicus. Coues, 1884.— Nar- 
row-fronted woodpecker, Melanerpes /omucivorus 
angustifrons, a variety found in Lower California, having 
not the forehead but the white frontal stripe narrower 
than usual.— Nubian woodpecker, the leading species 
of a group of about 12 species composing the Ethiopian 
genus Campothera; C. nubica, of Abyssinia and south to 
equatorial Africa. Latham, 1782.— Nuchal woodpecker, 
a western variety of the sapsucker, Sphyropicus variug 
nuchalis, showing more red on the head, and thus an 
approach to S. rw6<?r.— Nuttall's woodpecker, Picux 
(Dendrocopus) nuttalli, the ladder-backed woodpecker of 
the Pacific slope of the United States, very near the 
Texan : named in 1843 by Dr. W. Gambel in compliment 
to the botanist Thomas Nuttall.— Orange woodpecker, 
IJrachypternus aurantius, of northern India, in part of the 
color named, and 11 inches long, the male of which was 
originally described in 1760 by Brisson as pic du Cap de 
Bonne Espi'-rance. and the female the same year by the 
same as pic verd de Bengal, whence the Linnean (1766) 
Picus aurantius and Picus beivjalensis. The same bira 
served also as the type of Malherbe's genus Brahmapicos, 
dedicated to the leading personage of the Hindu TrimurtL 
—Phillips's woodpecker, a young haiiy woodpecker : so 
named as a distinct species in 18li9, by Audubon, after 
Benjamin Phillips, F. R. s.— Pileated woodpecker, the 
black log-cock of North America, Hylotomus or Dn/otomus 
or Phlaotomus or Ceophlceus pileatus, originally Picus pi- 
leatus. See cut under pileated.— "Pole-hSi.cked three- 
toed woodpecker, Picoides americanus dorsalis, having 
a long white stripe lengthwise down the middle of the 
black back, of the Rocky Mountain region of the United 
States. — Raffles'S woodpecker, Gauropicoides rafiesi, 
a monotype inhabiting Tenasserim, the Malay peninsula, 
Sumatra, and Borneo, originally named Picus raffiesii by 
Vigors, in 1831, after Sir Stamford Raffles. The upper 
parts are mostly uniform golden-olive. — Rayed wood- 
pecker, one of the zebra-woodpeckers, Picus or Centu- 
rus or Zehrapicxis striatus, of Hayti and San Domingo. La- 
tham, 1782.— Red-bellied woodpecker, Centurus caroli- 
nus, one of the zebra-woodpeckers, common in the Unit- 
ed States, See cut under Centurus. — Red-breasted 
woodpecker, Sphyropieus ruber, the sapsucker of the 
Pacific coast of the United States, like S. rarius, but hav- 
ing the whole head, neck, and breast caimine-red in both 
sexes.- Red-cheeked woodpecker (of Edwards, 1764X 
Celeus undatus, a crested Amazonian species of a genus of 
14 species peculiar to the Neotropical region.— Red-COCk- 
aded woodpecker. See rerf-coc/.-flrferf.— Red-headed 
woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus : so named by 
Catesby in 17;U. See cut under J/p^7i«7Je?.— Red-Shaft- 
ed woodpecker, the ilexican flicker, Colaptes mexicatius. 
— Red-throated woodpecker, the adult male of the 
thyroid woodpecker, formerly described as Melanerpes 
rnbrigulariit i^Sclater).- St. Lucas WOOdpeckCr, the lad- 
der-backed woo<lpecker of Ix»wer California: a local race 
called Picxts scalaris leuca.-»anus. — Sap-SUCklng wood- 
peckers, the true sapsuckers of the genus Sphyropieus 
(whieh see, with cut).— Smallest Spotted woodpecker, 
the downy woodpecker. Cat.<'sby, 1731.— Strickland's 
woodpecker, I'icus (Dendrocopus) stricklandi, of south- 
eastern Mexico, dedicated in 1845 by Malherbe to Hugh 
v.. Strickland, principal author of the Stricklandian code 
of nomenclature in ornithology. It is 7k inches long, has 
the back and rump barred with blackish-brown and whit- 
ish, the under parts white, fully streaked with black.— 
Superciliary woodpecker. See ^H^jcrci^mry.- Texan 
woodpecker, the ladder-backed woodpecker of Texas to 
Arizona and soutliward to Yucatan. Picvs {Dendrocopus) 
scalaris, ,t^ to 6J inches long, having the upper parts regu- 
larly barred crosswise with white and black. Also called 
Texas sapsucker.— Thxee-toed WOOdpecker, any species 
(»f several different genera of Picin^fe, in which the first 
digit (inner hind toe) is lacking. This peculiarity recurs 
in genera otherwise very close to those in which the feet 
are normally yoke-toed, so that the species which exhibit 
it do not form a group by themselves. The three-toed gen- 
era are Picoides, Gauropicoides, Gecinulus, and Tiga (see 
cut under Tiga). The same peculiarity marks the genus 
Sasia among the Picumnin^.— Thyroid woodpecker, 
Sphyropieus thyroideus, & remarkable sapsucker of west- 
ern North America, the opposite sexes of which differ so 
much that they liave been placed in separate genera, and 
repeatedly described as different species, called brotcn- 
headed, red-throated, Willi^msoti's, etc., -icoodpecker, Picvs 
thyroideus (Cassin, 18ol), Colaptes thyroideus, Picus na- 
t'lli/p (Malherbe, 1854>, Centurus nataltje, Picus uilliam- 
wju' (Newberrv, 18.=i7\ Melanerpes thyroideus, M. rubrigula- 
nX etc. The "length is 9 to 9i inches, the extent 16 to 17 ; 
the adult male is glossy blue-black, with scarlet throat, an 
obliijue wing-bar. two stripes on each side of the head, and 
some other markings white ; the female is only contiim- 
ously black in a shield-shaped area on the breast, other- 
wise barred closely and regularly with black and white or 
whity-bi-own,thehead uniform hair-brown, the quills mark- 
ed with white spots in rows of pairs. The sexual differ- 
ences begin with nestlimrs as soon as they are fledged, con- 
trary to one of the broadest rules in ornithology — namely, 
that, when the adults of opposite sexes differ decidedly in 
