398 
P I C U S. 
top of the head, olive-grey mixed with red, and the hind- 
head is covered with filky feathers of a bright red. The 
cheeks and throat are like the forehead; the bread: olive- 
green with a yellow glofs, which has a bright effeift when 
expofed to the light; and this is the prevailing colour of 
the plumage in general, except on the rump and tail- 
coverts, which are bright red ; and the wing and tail- 
quills, which are dark brown in their interior parts only. 
The bill and nails are black ; eyes red brown ; feet and 
legs lead colour. The female is lefs than the male; and 
what is olive in his plumage is in her’s brownilh ; and her 
red is not lb bright, nor fo far extended ; yet Ihe has red 
on the fame parts at the age of two years. A male of the 
firft year has already fome red on the hind head ; but 
the female has none but on the rump ; her head, cheeks, 
and throat, are grey, as Bufton has defcribed it. This 
fpecies inhabits the whole eadern coad of Africa, from 
the river Duyvven Hock quite to Caffraria; it occurs 
alfo in the country, but not on the wedern coad. It is 
known at Senegal alfo. The female lays four white eggs 
in the hole of a tree; and the male (hares with her the la¬ 
bour of incubation. 
The male of this fpecies is reprefented on the Plate at 
fig. 2. The right foot is fliown feparately at fig. 3. the 
drength, fize, and lharpnefs, of the hooked claws, or ta¬ 
lons, are remarkable. One of the middle pair of tail-fea¬ 
ther is delineated at fig. 4. in which the great drength of 
the quill for fo fmall a feather, and its bifurcated ends, 
are worthy of notice. 
24. Picus auratus, the gold-winged woodpecker: tranf- 
verfely driate with black and grey, (hafts of the wing- 
quills golden; nape of the neck red; throat and bread 
black ; rump white. This beautiful bird feetns to emerge 
from the genus Picus, both by its habits and fome of its 
features. Catefby, who obferved it in Carolina, tells us, 
that it is oftened on the ground, and does not creep upon 
the trunks of trees, but perches cn their branches like 
other birds. Yet its toes are difpofed two before and 
two behind, like the woodpeckers; and, like them too, 
the feathers of its tail are did’ and hard ; but, what is 
peculiar to itfelf, the fide of each is terminated by two 
fmall filaments. Its bill is, however, didimilar to that 
of the woodpeckers; it is not fquared, but rounded, and 
foinewhat curved, pointed, and not formed into an edge. 
If this bird refembles then the woodpeckers in the 
ftrufture of its feet and tail, it did’ers in the (hape of 
the bill, and in its habitudes, which necefiarily refult 
from the conformation of that principal organ in birds. 
It feems to form an intermediate fpecies between the 
woodpeckers and the cuckoos, with which fome natural- 
ids have clafled it; audit furnidtes another example of 
thofe (lender (hades by which Nature conne€ts her 
various produdfions. It is about eleven inches long; 
and is remarkable for its beautiful form, and the elegant 
difpofition of its rich colours. Black fpots, like crefcents 
and hearts, are fcattered on the domach and belly on a 
white ground of a dingy cad ; the forepart of the neck 
is vinous, cinereous, or lilac; and on the middle of the 
bread there is a broad black zone, (haped like a crefcent, 
The rump is white; the tail black above, and lined 
below with a fine yellow refembling dead leaves; the 
upper fide of the head, and the top of the neck, are of a 
lead-grey, and the back of the head is marked with a 
fine fcarlet (pot; from the corners of the bill two large 
black mudachios take their origin, and defcend on the 
fides of the neck, but they are wanting in the female. 
The back is of a brown ground, with black (freaks ; the 
great quills of the wing are of the fame cad; but what 
decorates it, and fuffices alone to difcriminate the bird, 
the drafts of all thefe quills are of a gold colour. It is 
found in Canada and Virginia, as well as in Carolina. 
25. Picus Cafer, the gold-tailed wood-pecker: colour 
above brown, beneath claret dotted with black ; wings 
beneath, and (hafts of the wings and tail, vermilion : 
hence Turton calls this “ gold-winged,” as well as the 
preceding. The bill is brown, rather bent, with a red 
dreak on each fide: tail pointed, the feathers forked at 
the end. Inhabits the Cape of Good Hope: ten inches 
long. 
26. Picus olivaceus, the crimfon-breaded woodpecker r 
olive; neck beneath, bread, and rump, pale red; chin, 
throat, quill-feathers, and vent, dufky brown; tail above 
black. Vaillant gives the name of laboureur to this fpe¬ 
cies, becaufe it performs on the ground what the red of 
the picae do upon trees; that is, it perforates for the pur- 
pofe of devouring larvae and irffefts, which are as nume¬ 
rous in the ground, probably, as in trees. This fpecies 
never climbs; yet its tail is formed (imllarly to thofe 
which do climb. It differs from the true woodpeckers 
in being more fociable ; they unite in docks of thirty or 
forty. It is extremely difficult to difcriminate, by the in- 
fpediion of a dead bird, the earthpecker from the wood¬ 
pecker. Vaillant gives the following defcription of the 
only one he met with in Africa. It is about the fize of 
the Picus viridis, or green woodpecker of Europe. In 
the male, the upper furface is chiefly olive-brown, lighter 
on the neck than on the wings ; but all variegated with 
vermicular fpots of fawn-colour, which fpots are dronger 
on the tail and wings. The throat and front of the neck 
white ; lower down are fome yellovviffi fpots inclining to 
red towards the bread ; the bread, dernum, and rump, 
are abfolutely red; the red of the under furface is yellow 
inclining to red. The eyes are reddiffi-yellow ; the bill 
black, but always covered with dirt; feet brown. The 
female is lefs, and her colours fainter; in the young bird 
the brown of the upper furface is but affi-colour, the red 
of the under parts hardly vifible, the eyes grey. This 
fpecies has a better and more continued flight than the 
climbing woodpeckers. 
Thefe birds are pretty common in Africa : their retreats 
are the barren and rocky mountains, whence in the day¬ 
time they come down into the plains, and return at night 
into the holes and caverns where they raife their young; 
the laying is from five to eight reddifli eggs, which the 
male affifls in hatching. They are often feen at the Cape 
of Good Hope, and about the Table mountain. 
27. Picus Carolinus, the red-bellied woodpecker: cap 
and nape red ; back marked with black ftripes; belly 
red ; middle tail-quills white, dotted with black. 1 . bis 
is of a middling fize, between the green woodpecker and 
the fpotted woodpecker of Europe : Catefby makes it too 
fmall, when he compares it to the Ipotted woodpecker; 
and Edwards reprefents it too large, in aliening it to be 
equal in bulk to the green woodpecker. The lame au¬ 
thor reckons only eight quills in the tail; but prooably 
the two others were wanting in the fnbjefi he defcribed ; 
for all the woodpeckers have ten quills in the tail. It 
has a red hood which falls on the arch of the neck; the 
throat and ftomach are rufty grey, which runs by degrees 
into a dull red on the belly; the back is black, ftriped 
tranfverfely with grey waves in feftoon;, which are lighter 
on the wings, broader and entirely white upon the rump. 
This bird is found in the ifland of Jamaica, and alfo on 
the continent of America : hence Edwards calls it the 
Jamaica, and Pennant the Carolina, woodpecker. 
£. A variety with the front and cheeks pale brown, 
belly pale yellowilh brown. 
y. The Louifiana woodpecker : red fpots on the chin 
and under the eyes. This variety is rather larger than 
the fpotted woodpecker; all the upper furface is agree¬ 
ably llripeel with whireand black, difpofed in crofs bands; 
of the quills of the tail, the twoexterior and the two middle 
ones are mixed with white and black, the reft black; all the 
under furface and the fore part of the body are uniformly 
white; grey, and a little dilute red, tinge the lower belly. 
Of two (pecimens lodged in the royal cabinet of France, 
the one has the upper fide of the head wholly red, and 
fome breaks of the fame colour on the throat and under 
the eyes; the other has its front grey, and no red but on 
the back of the head ; and is probably the female; this 
being 
