P I c u s. 
401 
along the back to the rump ; the reft of the back is 
black; the wings too are black, but marked pretty 
regularly with fpots of dull white; a black fpot covers 
the crown, and red the back of the head, from which a 
white line extends to the eye, and another is traced on 
the fide of the neck ; the tail is black. All the under 
furface of the body is wdiite. Inhabits North America 
from Hudfon’s Bay to Carolina ; nine inches long; this 
and the laft are faid to injure orchard-trees. 
4.6. Picus major, the greater fpotted woodpecker: 
plumage agreeably variegated wdth white and black, 
embellilhed with red on the head and belly. The crown 
of the head is black, u'ith a red bar on the occiput, and 
the hood terminates in a black point on the neck; thence 
rife tw’o branches of black, one of which ftretches on 
each fide to the root of the bill, and marks a muftachio, 
and the other, defcending to the lower part of the neck, 
decorates it with a collar; this black ftreak unites near 
the ftioulder with the black piece that occupies the 
middle of the back ; two great white fpaces cover the 
(boulders; in each wing the great quills are brown, the 
others black, and all mixed with white; the whole of the 
black is deep, and all the wdiite pure and unmixed; the 
red on the head is bright, and that of the belly is a fine 
fcarlet. Thus the plumage of this bird is charmingly 
diverfified, and furpafies that of all the other woodpeckers 
in beauty. This defcription anfwers only to the male; 
the female has no red on the back of the bead. Some 
fpotted woodpeckers are clothed with a lefs beautiful 
plumage, and fome even are entirely white. There is 
alfo a variety whofe colours appear more obfcure ; anti, 
though all the upper fide of the head and the belly are 
red, the tint is pale and dull. 
The fpotted woodpecker ftrikes againft the trees 
with brifker and harder blows than the green woodpecker; 
it creeps with great eafe upwards or downwards, and 
horizontally under the branches; the ftiff quills of its 
tail ferve to (upport it when it hangs in an inverted 
pollute; and it knocks keenly with its bill. It is a Ihy 
bird ; for, when it perceives a perfon, it hides itfelf 
behind a branch and remains (till. Like the other wood¬ 
peckers, it breeds in a hollow tree. It approaches habi¬ 
tations during winter, and feeks to fettle on the bark of 
fruit-trees, where the cryfalids and eggs of in lefts are 
depofited in greater quantity than on the trees of the 
ioreft. I11 fummer, during droughts, it is feen repairing 
to the water-meadows to drink. It approaches the fpot 
in filerice, fluttering from tree to tree; and each time it 
halts it feems anxioufly to examine if any danger threat¬ 
ens ; it has an air of inquietude; it liftens, and turns 
its head on all fides, and even looks through the foliage 
tothe.ground below ; and the leaft noife is fufficient to 
drive it back. When it reaches the tree next the water, 
it defcends from branch to branch, until it gets to the 
loweft on the margin of the brook; it then dips its bill, 
and at each fip it hearkens, and calls a look round it. 
After its thirft is quenched, it retires quickly, without 
making a paufe as on its arrival. When (hot on a tree, 
it feldom drops; but, as long as a fpark of life remains, 
it clings firmly to the branch or Hem. It is found even 
in t he mod northern parts of Europe, as Siberia; its length 
is nine inches; its weight two ounces and three quarters. 
47. Picus medius, the middle fpotted woodpecker: 
variegated with white and black ; vent and cap red. It 
is doubted if this be a diftinft fpecies, or w hether it be 
not the young of the major juft' defcribed. 
48. Picus minor, the little fpotted woodpecker: varie¬ 
gated with white and black ; crown red, vent teftaceous. 
This fpecies refembles the former fo ciofely, that it might 
be regarded as the fame formed on a fmaller fcale; only 
the fore part of the body is dirty white, or rather grey ; 
and it wants the red under the tail, and the white on the 
(boulders. As in the large fpecies too, it is the male only 
that has its head marked with red. This little fpotted 
woodpecker is fcarcely fo big as a fparrow, and weighs 
Vol. XX. No. 1377. 
only an ounce. In winter it reforts to houfes and vine¬ 
yards. It does not creep very high on large trees, and 
feems to prefer the circumference of the trunk. It 
neftles in fome hole of a tree, and often difputes the pof- 
fefiion with the coiemoufe, which is commonly worlled 
in the druggie, and compelled to furrender its lodging. 
It is found in England, where it has received the name 
of hickwall; it alfo inhabits Sweden ; and this fpecies, 
like the greater fpotted woodpecker, would appear to be 
diffufed even to North America, for in Louifiaha a fmall 
fpotted woodpecker is feen which refembles it almoll 
entirely, except that the upper fide of the head, as in the 
variegated woodpecker of Canada, is covered with a 
black cap edged with white. 
/?. M. Sonnerat faw, in the ifland of Antigua, a fmall 
variegated woodpecker, which we (hall refer to this, 
fince the charafters wdiich he gives are inefficient to 
difcriminate two fpecies. It is of the fame bulk; black, 
ftriped and llreaked with white, covers all the upper fur- 
face of the body; the under furface is fpotted with black- 
i(h, on a pale yellow, or rather yellowilh-white, ground ; 
a wdiite line marks the fides of the neck. Sonnerat did 
not perceive red on the head, but he remarks that it was 
perhaps a female. 
y. Hind-head fub-crefted ; a crimfon fpot only on the 
crown ; front, cheeks, and body, beneath, white. Inha¬ 
bits Ceylon, and is rather lefs than the other varieties. 
49. Picus barbatus, the whifkered woodpecker: two 
large black whilkers, one beginning at the eye, the other 
from the lower mandible. The cheeks and neck are 
white, which makes thefe black wdiilkers more remark¬ 
able; and not only the male, but the young birds before 
they quit the nell, are thus whilkered. 
This fpecies is about the fize of the greater fpotted 
woodpecker; in length nine inches. The front of the 
head is black dotted u'ith faint red; the hind-head 
vermilion; and lower down is a large black patch ; the 
reft of the upper furface is a fine mellow olive-green, 
in different lights inclining to brown, yellow, and even 
grey, not without fome fpots of gold on the wings and 
tail ; the under parts are green alfo, but with vermicular 
(pots of yellow. The bill is black; eyes dark red ; legs 
and feet brown. The female is fomewhat lefs; but (lie 
is perfeftly to be diftinguiftied, becaufe her hind-head is 
black inftead of red, and her colours are in general duller 
and more inclining to brown. The young male has a 
little patcli of red on the hind-head, but in other refpects 
he refembles the adult female; and on the other hand, 
fome aged females have been (een with a little red on the 
head like the young males. 
This fpecies inhabits CaftYaria, where it is very com¬ 
monly met with climbing the trunks of mimofa-trees. 
It ftrikes extremely hard with its bill, not with an inten¬ 
tion of perforating the found wood, but merely to difcover 
if there be any hollow or decayed part, to frighten the 
infefts beneath, and bring them out of their holes. 
The female lays four white eggs; and the male affifts her 
in hatching them. 
50. Picus tricolor, the varied woodpecker: black with 
white tranfverfe ftreaks; breall and belly red. This is 
a handfome bird, equal in bulk to the P. medius. Its 
plumage varied with white tranfverfe lines on a black 
and brown ground; the belly and bread are vermilion. 
This woodpecker inhabits the cooled parts of Mexico, 
and bores trees like the reft of the kind. 
51. Picus Canadenfis, the Canadian fpotted wood¬ 
pecker: white;,crcw n,back, (boulders, and the two middle 
tail-quills, black; the relt, and the wings, variegated 
with white and black. This bird is of the fame fize with 
the European (potted woodpecker, and differs only in 
the dillribution of its colours. It has no red ; and the 
fpace encircling the eye is not white, hut black : there 
is more wdiite on the fide of the neck, and white or faint 
yellow on the back of the head. Thefe differences how¬ 
ever are flight; and the two contiguous fpecies are per- 
5 K baps 
4 
