COLAPTES A UR AT US. 
231 
the birds as they sat near the nests, without their paying the slightest attention to me. 
In the first instance, the nest was quite low, not over ten feet from the ground hut I have 
taken the eggs from the lofty limb of a buttonwood, sixty feet high. 
The Red-headed Woodpeckers begin to drill the holes for their nests in early May but 
the full complement of eggs is not deposited until Juno. The young leave the nest about 
the first of August and, as related, accompany their parents for some time. At this sea¬ 
son, they resort to the gum trees in great numbers in order to feed upon the acid berries 
which grow in profusion but they also eat large quantities of insects and, like the Yellow- 
bellies, are quite expert flycatchers. Most of the Red-headed Woodpeckers leave Penn¬ 
sylvania about the last of October but a few remain all winter. 
GENUS IV. COLAPTES. THE SPOTTED WOODPECKERS. 
Gen. Ch. Sternum, not twice as wide as the height of the keel. Marginal indentations, deep, all being equal in depth to 
the height of the keel. Posterior border of sternum, emarginale. Manubrium, quite large. Terminal hook of scapula, round¬ 
ed on the upper and lower sides. Tongue, provided with a long, extensible sheath, and the cerato-hyals are greatly elongated 
and, extending around the back of the skull and over the top of it, enter the right nostril. Proventriculus, large. Stomach, 
muscular. Salivary glands, well developed. Both mandibles, curved. 
Members of this genus are usually marked on the occiput with scarlet and are transversely banded above and spotted 
below. The tail feathers are quite acuminate. The hind toe exceeds one half the length of the outer which is projected 
backward. There is but one species within our limits. 
COLAPTES AUEATUS. 
Golden-winged Woodpecker. 
Colaptes auratus Swainson, Zool. Jour., Ill; 1827, 353. 
Colaptes Mexicanus Swainson, Syn. Mex. birds in Philos. Mag., I; 1827, 4-10. 
Colaptes hybridus Baird, Birds N. A.; 1858, 122. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Sp. Cn. Form, robust. Size, large. Sternum, stout. Tongue, long, not very thin, and homy at the tip which is 
provided with barbs for one third of the terminal portion. The extensible sheath occupies about one half the length of the 
tongue. The salivary glands are large, flat, somewhat triangular in form, and measure about 2'40 in length by '30 in width 
at the base; the ducts are at the terminal extremity and open under the tongue. There are no laryngeal muscles, excepting 
the sterno-trachealis which is stout. The tympaniform membrane is present and although there is an os transversale, yet 
it does not support a semilunar membrane. The oesophagus is without dilatation and opens into a very large, globular pro- 
ventriculus which measures about ‘70 in external diameter. The gastric glands are rather numerous, not simple, being o- 
val in form with four small protuberances emerging at equal intervals from the central circumference. They only occupy the 
lower portion of the proventriculus and are packed on a surface which is triangular in form, with the base which measures 
about ‘80 in width, toward the oesophagus and the apex which is *75 from the base, toward the stomach. Thus the upper 
portion of the proventriculus is destitute of glands but is provided with a mucus membrane. The stomach is rather flat in 
form with very muscular walls that measure '30 in thickness. The lining membrane is soft, similar to that which covers 
the proventriculus. The fold of the duodenum is quite long and rather twisted, inclosing a pancreas which is wide and of 
irregular form. The spleen is an elliptical body lying partly on the proventriculus and partly over the pyloric opening of 
the stomach. The left lobe of the liver is more than one half as large as the right. 
Color. Adult male. Head and nape, slaty-ash. Back and wings, excepting primaries, yellowish-ash, transversely 
barred with dark-brown. Primaries and tail, dark-brown; the former, slightly barred on the outer and inner webs, the lat¬ 
ter on the outer webs of extreme outer, and the inner webs of central pair, with yellowish-ash. Shaft of wing feathers and 
upper tail coverts, under wing coverts and axillaries, under sides of wings and tail, excepting tip, bright golden-yellow. 
Sides of head and entire under parts, including under tail coverts, reddish-ash, lightest anteriorly. Patch on cheek, broad 
crescent on breast, round spots on under side of body back of breast and on under tail coverts, black. There is a band of 
