156 
HAIRY WOODPECKER. 
inhabit the continent from Hudson’s Bay to Carolina and , 
Georgia. 
The Hairy Woodpecker is nine inches long, and fifteen 
in extent ; crown, black ; line over and under the eye, white ; 
the eye is placed in a black line, that widens as it descends to 
the back ; hind head, scarlet, sometimes intermixed with black ; 
nostrils, hid under remarkably thick, bushy, recumbent hairs, 
or bristles; under the bill are certain long hairs thrown 
forward and upward, as represented in the figure ; bill, 
a bluish horn colour, grooved, wedged at the end, straight, 
and about an inch and a quarter long ; touches of black, 
proceeding from the lower mandible, end in a broad black 
strip that joins the black on the shoulder ; back, black, 
divided by a broad lateral strip of white, the feathers com- 
posing which are loose and unwebbed, resembling hairs, — 
whence its name ; rump and shoulders of the wing, black ; 
wings, black, tipped and spotted with white, three rows 
of spots being visible on the secondaries, and five on the 
primaries ; greater winged coverts, also spotted with white ; 
tail, as in the others, cuneiform, consisting of ten strong 
shafted and pointed feathers, the four middle ones black, the 
next partially white, the two exterior ones white, tinged at 
the tip with a brownish burnt colour ; tail-coverts, black ; 
whole lower side, pure white; legs, feet, and claws, light 
blue, the latter remarkably large and strong ; inside of the 
mouth, flesh coloured ; tongue, pointed, beset with barbs, and 
capable of being protruded more than an inch and a half; the 
os hyciides, in this species, passes on each side of the neck, 
ascends the skull, passes down towards the nostril, and is 
wound round the bone of the right eye, which projects consi- 
derably more than the left for its accommodation. The great 
mass of hairs that cover the nostril, appears to be designed 
as a protection to the front of the head, when the bird is j 
engaged in digging holes into the wood. The membrane 
which encloses the brain in this, as in all the other species of 
Woodpeckers, is also of extraordinary strength, no doubt to 
