154 
YELLOW BELLIED 'WOODPECKER. 
black, proceed, the first from the upper part of the eye, the 
other from the posterior half of the eye, and both lose them- 
selves on the neck and back ; back, dusky yellow, sprinkled 
and elegantly waved with black ; wings, black, with a large 
oblong spot of white ; the primaries, tipt and spotted with 
white ; the three secondaries next the body are also variegated 
with white ; rump, white, bordered with black ; belly, yellow ; 
sides under the wings, more dusky yellow, marked with long 
arrow-heads of black ; legs and feet, greenish blue ; tail, black, 
consisting of ten feathers, the two outward feathers on each 
side tipt with white, the next totally black, the fourth edged 
on its inner vane half way down with white, the middle one 
white on its interior vane, and spotted with black ; tongue, 
flat, horny for half an inch at the tip, pointed, and armed 
along its sides with reflected barbs ; the other extremities of 
the tongue pass up behind the skull in a groove, and end 
near the right nostril ; in birds of the first and second year 
they reach only to the crown ; bill, an inch long, channeled, 
wedge -formed at the tip, and of a dusky horn colour. The 
female is marked nearly as the male, but wants the scarlet on 
the throat, which is whitish ; she is also darker under the 
wings and on the sides of the breast. The young of the first 
season, of both sexes, in October, have the crown sprinkled 
with black and deep scarlet ; the scarlet on the throat may be 
also observed in the young males. The principal food of 
these birds is insects ; and they seem particularly fond of 
frequenting orchards, boring the trunks of the apple trees in 
their eager search after them. On opening them, the liver 
appears very large, and of a dirty gamboge colour ; the 
stomach strongly muscular, and generally filled with fragments 
of beetles and gravel. In the morning, they are extremely 
active in the orchards, and rather shyer than the rest of their 
associates. Their cry is also different, but, though it is easily 
distinguishable in the woods, cannot be described by words. 
