148 
PICUS AURATUS. 
fine cinnamon colour ; from the lower mandible a strip 
of black, an inch in length, passes down each side of 
the throat, and a lunated spot, of a vivid blood red, 
covers the hind bdad, its two points reaching within 
half an inch of each eye ; the sides of the neck, below 
this, incline to a bluish gray ; throat and chin, a very 
light cinnamon or fawn colour ; the breast is ornamented 
with a broad crescent of deep black ,• the belly and vent, 
white, tinged with yellow, and scattered with innume- 
rable round spots of black, every feather having a 
distinct central spot, those on the thighs and vent being 
heart-shaped and largest; the lower or inner side of 
the wing and tail, shafts of all the larger feathers, and 
indeed of almost every feather, are of a beautiful golden 
yellow ; that on the shafts of the primaries being very 
distinguishable, even when the wings are shut ; the 
rump is white, and remarkably prominent ; the tail- 
coverts white, and curiously serrated with black ; upper 
side of the tail, and the tip below, black, edged with 
light loose filaments of a cream colour, the two exterior 
feathers, serrated with whitish ; shafts, black towards 
the tips, the two middle ones, nearly wholly so ; bill, 
an inch and a half long, of a dusky horn colour, some- 
what bent, ridged only on the top, tapering, but not to 
a point, that being a little wedge-formed ; legs and feet, 
light blue ; iris of the eye, hazel ; length, twelve inches ; 
extent, twenty. The female differs from the male 
chiefly in the greater obscurity of the fine colours, and 
in wanting the black mustaches on each side of the 
throat. This description was taken from a very beau- 
tiful and perfect specimen. 
Though this species, generally speaking, is migratory, 
yet they often remain with us in Pennsylvania during 
the whole winter. They also inhabit the continent of 
North America, from Hudson’s Bay to Georgia ; and 
have been found by voyagers on the north-west coast 
of America. They arrive at Hudson’s Bay in April, 
and leave it in September. Mr Hearne, however, 
informs us, that “ the gold-winged woodpecker is almost 
