University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Link to University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Link to University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture

Page View

Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813. / American ornithology; or The natural history of the birds of the United States
(1828)

Species 8. Picus querulus. Red-cockaded woodpecker,   pp. [44]-45


Page [44]


SPECIES 8. PICUS QUERULUS.
          RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER.
                   [Plate XV.-Fig. 1.]
                PEALE'S .Mseum, Xo. 2027.
 THIS new species I first discovered in the pine woods of North
 Carolina. The singularity of its voice, which greatly resembles
the chirping of young nestlings, and the red streak on the side
of its head, suggested the specific name I have given it. It also
extends through South Carolina and Georgia, at least as far as
the Altamaha river. Observing the first specimen I found to be
so slightly marked with red, I suspected it to be a young bird,
or imperfect in its plumage, but the great numbers I afterwards
shot, satisfied me that this is a peculiarity of the species. It ap-
peared exceedingly restless, active, and clamorous; and every
where I found its manners the same.
  This bird seems to be an intermediate link between the Red-
bellied and the Hairy Woodpecker, represented in plates VII
and IX of this work. It has the back of the former, and the
white belly and spotted neck of the latter; but wants the breadth
of red in both, and is less than either. A preserved specimen
has been deposited in the Museum of this city.
  This Woodpecker is seven inches and a half long, and thir-
teen broad; the upper part of the head is black; the back barred
with twelve white, transversely, semicircular lines, and as many
of black, alternately; the cheeks and sides of the neck are white;
whole lower parts the same; from the lower mandible, a list of
black passes towards the shoulder of the wing, where it is lost in
small black spots on each side of the breast; the wings are black,
spotted with white; the four middle tail feathers black, the rest
white spotted with black; rump black, variegated with white;


Go up to Top of Page