The- greater /potted Woodpecker. Picus varius major.
Numb. XIX.
IT S Length from the tip of the Bill to the end of the Tail is n Inches; Breadth
of the Wings when extended, one Foot two Inches; Weight two Ounces and three
Quarters; the Bill an Inch and a Quarter long, ftreight, black, thicker at the Head, and
flender'er by Degrees, ending in a iharp Point, being of a Pyramidal Figure, and chan-
nel’d with a Furrow or two ; the Noftrils round and covered with black Briftles; the Ir i-
des of the Eyes red; the Tongue made like that of the green Woodpecker.
On the hind part of the Head is a Line of Crimfon or Vermilion red reaching from white
to white in each Cheek; [in the Cock, not in the Hen.] In the Hen the Throat and
Breaft are of a dirty yellowiih white; the lower Belly under the Tail is of a lovely red
or crimfon Colour ; the Feathers encompafling the Bafe of the upper Chap, and thofe
about the Eyes and Ears are white; the Head is black, with a dafh of a ihinirig green;
the Back alio black; at the Inlertion of the Wings on each Side is a great white Spot}
from the Corners of the Mouth a broad, black Stroak reaches on to the Back; juft below
the Head another black Line crofles this. The flag Feathers of the Wings are in Number 20,
(of which the outermoft is the fhorteftj black and marked with femicircular white Spots ;
the interior covert Feathers of the Wings are white, and make up part of thofe white
Spots, mentioned on the Shoulders; the middlemoft are wholly black; the exterior have
one or -two white Spots; the Ridge or Bafe of the Wing is white.
The Tail is 3 Inches and a half long made up of 10 Feathers being ftrong, ftiff, iharp-'
pointed and bending inwards; the Shafts, as in others, are not produced to the outmoft
Tip (perchance worn or broken off with climbing) by reafon whereof the Feathers appear
forked ; the outmoft tail Feather on each Side is fmall, black, and has a white Spot
on the exterior Web; in the two next the lower Part is black and the reft white with two
tranfverfe black Spots or Stroaks, of which the upper cuts both Webs of the Feather,
the lower only the interior; in the third the black rcacheth higher, and the white Part
hath only one tranfverfe black Stroak ; the fourth Pair arc all black, having only a iemi-
circular Spot of white toward the Top, the very Tip being of a rediih white; the two
middlemoft arc wholly black; thefe Spots differ in fome Birds both in the Wings and Tail.
The Feet and Legs are of a lead Colour, the Toes ftanding 2 forward and 2 backward, as
in others of this Kind; the 2 fore Toes like wife are connedted from the Divarication-place
to the firft Joint.
It hath a fmall Liver with a Gall annexed; the Breaft-bone is very long, produced to
the Vent; it hath likewife a fmall Gizzard or Stomach, in which when difiedted were
found Centipedes and Beetles; the Guts lie deep within the Body, that they be not hurt
when the Bird turns her Head downwards and ftrikes Trees with her Bill. It is common
to this and the reft of this Kind to want die blind Guts.