GOLD-WINGED WOODPECKER. 
141 
40 . PIC US AUBATUS , LINNAEUS. — GOLD- WINGED WOODPECKER. 
WILSON, PLATE III. FIG. I. — EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
This elegant bird is well known to our farmers and 
junior sportsmen, who take every opportunity of de- 
stroying him ; the former, for the supposed trespasses 
he commits on their Indian corn, or the trifle he will 
bring in market, and the latter for the mere pleasure 
of destruction, and perhaps for the flavour of his flesh, 
which is in general esteem. In the state of Pennsyl- 
vania, he can scarcely be called a bird of passage, as, 
even in severe winters, they may be found within a 
few miles of the city of Philadelphia ; and I have known 
them exposed for sale in market every week during the 
months of November, December, and January, and that, 
too, in more than commonly rigorous weather. They 
no doubt, however partially, migrate, even here ,* being 
much more numerous in spring and fall, than in winter. 
Early in the month of April, they begin to prepare 
their nest, which is built in the holiow body, or branch 
of a tree, sometimes, though not always, at a considerable 
height from the ground ; for I have frequently known 
them fix on the trunk of an old apple tree, at not more 
than six feet from the root. The sagacity of this bird 
in discovering, under a sound bark, a hollow limb or 
trunk of a tree, and its perseverance in perforating it 
for the purpose of incubation, is truly surprising ; the 
male and female alternately relieving and encouraging 
each other, by mutual caresses, renewing their labours 
for several days, till the object is attained, and the place 
rendered sufficiently capacious, convenient, and secure. 
At this employment they are so extremely intent, that 
they may be heard till a very late hour in the evening, 
thumping like carpenters. I have seen an instance 
