DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.

Genus Sylvicola. Swainson. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 204. (1831.) Sylvicola olivacea. (Giraud.) Sylvia olivacea. Giraud. New species of N. A. Birds, p. 14, pl. 7, fig. 2. (1841.) Sylvia tæniata. Du Bus. Bull. Acad., Brussels, XIV., p. 104. (1847.)

Form. About the size of Sylvicola æstiva. Bill slender; wing rather long, pointed; second and third quills longest, and nearly equal; tail moderate, emarginate; tarsi long, slender.

Dimensions. Total length (of skin) about 4¾ inches; wing 3¼; tail 2¼ inches.

Colors. Entire head, neck, and breast, dark orange, inclining to rufous, lighter on the throat; through the eye to the ear, a band of black; back and rump ashy-olive; quills brownish-black, edged on their outer webs with yellowish-olive, and on their inner webs with white; tail brownish-black, the outer feathers with a spot of white on their inner webs near the end; wing coverts brownish-black tipped with white, forming two conspicuous bars on the wing; abdomen and under tail coverts, pale greenish-ashy, nearly white in the middle of the former; under wing coverts white, tinged with ashy; bill dark, lighter at base of under mandible; tarsi dark.

Hab. Texas. Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.

This bird presents some affinities and resemblance to the Sylvicola protonotarius of the Southern United States, but is much darker colored, and may readily be distinguished from that or any other species with which we are acquainted.

Plate 49
The Great-crested Woodpecker
Dryotomus imperialis (Gould)

DRYOTOMUS IMPERIALIS.—(Gould.)
The Great-crested Woodpecker.
PLATE XLIX. Adult Male.

Though not clearly made out as a bird entitled to a place in the ornithological fauna of the United States, we have given the plate now before the reader on grounds regarded as sufficient for the introduction of descriptions of this magnificent species into the works of other American authors, though it has never before been figured.

This is the largest of all known Woodpeckers, and is one of the most beautiful in plumage. It belongs strictly to the same group or genus as other large American species.

Though originally described by Mr. Gould as from California, and subsequently supposed by Dr. Townsend and Mr. Audubon to have been seen by the former in the Rocky Mountains, it has escaped the attention of all recent American travellers and naturalists. The specimens in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy are labelled as having been collected in Mexico. It is probable that this fine bird is an inhabitant of the dense forests, the trees of which attain such enormous dimensions in the western regions of North America, a supposition coinciding with Dr. Townsend’s observations on the species seen by him, from which we shall present an extract in the course of the present article.

In the immense forests which skirt the slopes of the Rocky Mountains in the possessions of the United States, and of the Sierra Madre in Mexico, we find a congenial locality for this giant of his tribe. In those regions the trees are not less gigantic, travellers of unquestioned veracity having given two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty feet as a heighth frequently to be observed.

The first notice of this bird by an American naturalist is in Mr. Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, V., p. 313, who merely publishes a note from Dr. Townsend, which was his only information respecting it, except Mr. Gould’s description. It will be seen that Dr. Townsend did not succeed in obtaining specimens, though it is in all respects probable that the species now before us is alluded to by him in the following, which we take the liberty of copying from Mr. Audubon, as above:

“On the 14th of August, 1834, I saw several specimens of a large black Woodpecker, about the size of Picus principalis. A broad band of white appeared to extend transversely across the wings and back. It inhabited the tall pine trees, and was very shy. The note was almost exactly that of the Red-headed Woodpecker; so nearly, that at first Mr. Nuttall and myself were both deceived by it.

“I lingered behind the party, which at that time was travelling rapidly, and at last got a shot at one of them with slugs, my large shot having been entirely expended. The bird fell wounded in a thicket at a considerable distance. I searched for an hour without finding it, and was at last compelled to relinquish it and follow the party, which had been leaving me at a rapid trot, to find my way as I best could, and keep out of the reach of Indians, who were dogging us continually.”

On reference to Dr. Townsend’s Narrative, (p. 123,) it will be seen that this incident occurred on the Mallade River, in the Rocky Mountains. Though he states that the bird mentioned by him was “about the size of Picus principalis,” which is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker of the Southern States, it must be borne in mind that he saw it at a distance only, and was therefore readily mistaken. The present bird is very considerably larger than that species.

In Dr. Pickering’s notes we find one allusion which is very probably to this bird:—“A very large Ivory-billed species of Picus was spoken of by Dr. Marsh as having been occasionally seen by him. It is larger, he says, than any other Woodpecker of the United States, and is very difficult to approach. It is probably the new California species described by Mr. Gould a few years since.”

This memorandum occurs in that portion of Dr. Pickering’s journal kept in California, and we have no doubt relates to the bird now before us. To the gentleman mentioned, Dr. Marsh of San Joaquim, California, Dr. Pickering frequently acknowledges his obligations for information, which is often of high value, and is of evident reliability.

We have now given the only two instances, mere glimpses as it were, in which this large Woodpecker has come under the notice of American travellers or naturalists in its native localities. It is to be regretted that such is the case, and perhaps somewhat extraordinary, on account of its conspicuous size and colors; but it is expressly stated to be of a shy disposition, and difficult to obtain. Its well known existence in California, and the fact that so few of our naturalists have observed or heard of it, is additional evidence of the yet partial character of our knowledge of the ornithology of that country.

Mr. Gould’s description of this bird is in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London for 1832, p. 140; and, with the statement accompanying it, is the only notice of this species that has yet appeared in Europe. The latter is as follows:—

“Specimens were exhibited of a species of Woodpecker hitherto undescribed, which has recently been obtained by Mr. Gould, from that little explored district of California which borders the territory of Mexico. The exhibition was accompanied by a communication from Mr. Gould, in which, after some general remarks on the Picidæ and their geographical distribution, he referred to the species before the Committee as possessing the characters of the genus Picus in their most marked development, together with the greatest size hitherto observed in that group. In this respect it as far exceeds the Ivory-billed Woodpecker of the United States Picus principalis, as the latter does the Picus martius of Europe.

“This species is readily distinguishable from the P. principalis, by its much larger size, by the length of its occipital crest, the pendent silky feathers of which measure nearly four inches, by the absence of the white stripe which ornaments the neck of that bird, and by the bristles which cover its nostrils being black, whereas those of the Picus principalis are white.”

These notices comprise, at present, all that is known of the largest and one of the handsomest of Woodpeckers. Its history, yet to be written, will be a highly interesting contribution to the ornithology of the United States.

Several specimens of this bird, in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, are stated on their labels to be from Mexico, without other note or indication. All of them were obtained in Europe by our distinguished patrons, Messrs. Thomas B. and Edward Wilson.

The adult male is represented in the present plate. The female differs essentially only in having the crest black instead of scarlet.