48 
GOLD-WINGED WOODPECKER. 
Some European naturalists (and, among the rest, Linnseus 
himself, in his tenth edition of Systema Natures) have classed 
this bird with the genus Cuculus , or cuckoo, informing their 
readers, that it possesses many of the habits of the cuckoo ; 
that it is almost always on the ground ; is never seen to climb 
trees like the other woodpeckers, and that its bill is altogether 
unlike theirs ; every one of which assertions, I must say, 
is incorrect, and could have only proceeded from an entire 
unacquaintance with the manners of the bird. Except in the 
article of the bill — and that, as has been before observed, is 
still a little wedge-formed at the point — it differs in no one 
characteristic from the rest of its genus. Its nostrils are 
mentioned by Mr Audubon, which does not seem to have been noticed before, 
though I am not sure that it is confined to the Pici only. In many of our sand- 
pipers — the purre, for instance — the first plumage is that of the adult female 
in the nuptial dress ; and, in those which have black breasts, an occasional 
tinge of that colour may be traced. A great portion of these also receive 
at least a part of the winter dress during the first year. What I have alluded 
to is as follows, and it may be well that it is attended to in the description 
of the different species of woodpeckers ; Mr Audubon, however, uses the 
word “ frequently ,” asifitwere not a constant appearance in the young : — “ In 
this species, as in a few others, there is a singular arrangement in the colouring 
of the feathers of the upper part of the head, which I conceive it necessary for 
me to state, that it may enable persons better qualified than myself to decide 
as to the reasons of such arrangement. The young of this species frequently 
have the whole upper part of the head tinged with red, which, at the approach 
of winter, disappears, when merely a circular line of that colour is to be 
observed on the hind part, becoming of a rich silky vermilion tint. The hairy, 
downy, and red-cockaded woodpeckers are subject to the same extraordinary 
changes, which, as far as I know, never reappear at any future period of their 
lives. I was at first of opinion, that this change appeared only on the head of 
the male birds ; but, on dissection, I found it equally affecting both sexes. I 
am induced to believe, that, in consequence of this, many young woodpeckers, 
of different species, have been described and figured as forming distinct species 
themselves. I have shot dozens of young woodpeckers in this peculiar state 
of plumage, which, on being shewn to other persons, were thought by them to 
be of different species from what the birds actually were. This occurrence is 
the more worthy of notice, as it is exhibited on all the species of this genus, 
on the heads of which, when in full plumage, a very narrow line exists.”—. Ed. 
