Genus Dryotomus. Swainson. Lardner’s Cyclopedia, Birds, II., p. 308.
(1837.)
Size large; bill straight, long, wide at base, very strong; wings long,
third and fourth quills usually longest; tail long, graduated, rigid;
legs short; tarsi distinctly scaled; toes rather long, outer hind toe
longest, claws strong, compressed; feathers of the head behind elongated
and crest-like; colors generally black, white, and scarlet; contains
species of both the old and new world, amongst which are the largest of
the _Picidæ_.
Dryotomus imperialis. (Gould.)
Picus imperialis. Gould. Proc. Zool. Soc., London, 1832, p. 140.
Form. The largest of Woodpeckers; bill long, wide at base, three
distinct ridges on the upper mandible; wing long, primaries narrow,
third and fourth longest; tail rather long, graduated, middle feathers
longest; all the feathers of the tail narrow, rigid; tarsi moderate,
strong, scales in front very distinct; toes long, claws strong, curved,
compressed; general organization very strong; crest-like feathers long.
Dimensions. Male. Total length (of skin) about 23 inches; wing 12½; tail
9½; bill to the corner of the mouth 4; tarsus 2 inches.
Colors. Male. Elongated feathers of the head or crest, bright scarlet;
interscapular feathers, outer two-thirds of secondaries, and inner edges
of shorter primaries, white; under wing coverts white; all other parts
of the plumage deep black, with a greenish lustre; bill yellowish-white;
tarsi and toes dark; secondaries at their bases black; bristle-like
feathers at the base of upper mandible black. Female similar to the
male, but rather smaller, and with the crest black.
Hab. Oregon. California. Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada.
This gigantic Woodpecker is strictly of the same generic group as the
well known Ivory-billed Woodpecker of the forests of the Southern States
of this Union, and in some measure resembles it, but not in such degree
as to be readily confounded. The present bird is considerably the
larger, and is without the white stripes on the neck which are to be
found in the Ivory-billed. In both species, the females have the
elongated or crest-like feathers black.
It is quite remarkable that this fine species has not been brought by
any of the naturalists or travellers who have visited, or at least
passed through its native forests. This fact tends to demonstrate the
truth of our views, occasionally expressed in the present volume, that
we have much yet to learn of the Ornithology of Western America.
[Illustration: Plate 50
The Short-tailed Albatross
Diomedea brachyura (_Temminck_)]
DIOMEDEA BRACHYURA.—Temminck.
The Short-tailed Albatross.
PLATE L. Adult Male.
This Albatross is the adult of the bird represented in plate 35, (the
Black-footed Albatross, _Diomedea nigripes_, Aud.) of the present
volume. At the time of the publication of the plate alluded to, and our
article accompanying it, we were not aware of this identity; but having
had our attention called to it by a distinguished European
ornithologist, we have, on careful re-examination and comparison, fully
confirmed its truth. So great a change taking place, however, in this
bird, from early age to maturity, the two figures only fairly represent
the species, of which that formerly given, as above, is the young bird.
The common occurrence of this species on the coasts of California and
Oregon, was ascertained by the naturalists of the Exploring Expedition
in the Vincennes and Peacock, under command of Captain Charles Wilkes,
of the United States’ Navy; and its addition to the ornithology of North
America is one of many services to Zoology performed by that celebrated
and most important Expedition. In fact, of the many similar undertakings
of governments for the purposes of exploration and scientific research
within the present century, the expedition alluded to stands pre-eminent
in its contributions to Geographical and Zoological Science, a result to
be attributed to the enlightened and judicious exertions of its
distinguished Commander, and to the fact that it numbered amongst its
naturalists several of the most accomplished Zoologists of America.
This Albatross probably inhabits the entire extent of the Pacific Ocean,
from the northern coasts of America and Asia to Australia. It is given
by Mr. Gould as a bird of the coast of Australia, though somewhat
doubtfully, and is very probably the species sometimes mistaken for the
Great Wandering Albatross (_D. exulans_), and found abundantly in the
vicinity of the Kurile Islands and the coast of Kamtschatka, and other
more southern coasts of Asia. It is smaller than the species just
mentioned, but otherwise much resembles it. That species, though
abundant in the southern hemisphere, does not apparently venture so far
north as the present bird.
In a volume on Quadrupeds and Birds, by Mr. Titian R. Peale, which was
printed and partially distributed as one of the valuable series of works
on the scientific results of the Exploring Expedition of the Vincennes
and Peacock, we find the following in relation to the bird now before
us:—
“Numbers of the Short-tailed Albatross were observed by the Expedition
on the Northwest coast of America, and this species is believed to be a
common inhabitant of all the Pacific Ocean, north of the Tropic of
Cancer. Specimens vary as much, or perhaps more, from each other, than
in the Wandering Albatross (_Diomedea exulans_), of the Southern Ocean,
and require several years to attain to their perfect dress. The changes
are regularly progressive. Until the second year the plumage remains of
a dark sooty-brown color, with black feet, and dirty flesh-colored bills
(which become black when the skins are dried), and in this state this
bird pairs and raises its first young; after this, cloudy-white spots
appear about the base of the bill, and white spots over and under the
eyes; the rump begins to show a conspicuous spot of the same; and the
bill turns yellow, with a tinge of carmine; the tip bluish; the legs are
then flesh-colored; and, finally, the back, wings, and tail, become
cinereous-brown; rump, head, and all the under parts pure white; a white
margin shows along the back-edge of the wing in flight; and a
cloudy-black spot generally remains in front of the eye. Thus, in some
years, the plumage of the body is changed from nearly black to a pure
snow-like white.
“On the 20th of December we found this species breeding on Wake’s
Island. The single egg of each pair was laid on the ground, in a slight
concavity, without any lining material; both sexes take turns in the
duties of incubation, and neither the male nor the female abandoned the
nest on our approach, but walked around us in a very dignified manner,
and made but a few demonstrations of defence with their beaks, when
taken up in our arms. The eggs are white, of an oblong figure, nearly
alike at both ends, and measure four and two-tenths inches long, and two
and six-tenths inches in diameter.
“The two sexes are alike in plumage, and do not vary much in size,
though the male is rather the larger.
“This bird is usually silent, but sometimes quarrels with its fellows
over the offal thrown from ships, when it “brays” in much the same tone
as a jackass. It is easily caught with a hook and line, but owing to its
thick plumage and tenacity of life, it is difficult to kill it with
shot.
“It was not our fortune to observe more than this one species of
Albatross in the North Pacific. It is subject to great variations of
plumage, as stated above, but is very distinct from the species of the
Southern Hemisphere. The Wandering Albatross (_D. exulans_), and the
Yellow-nosed (_D. chlororhynchus_), both of which, it has been asserted,
have been sometimes found in the Northern Oceans, we believe, on the
contrary, to be entirely restricted to the Southern hemisphere, or else
they would sometimes be seen in crossing the intermediate tropical
region. We saw both of those species, and also the Sooty Albatross (_D.
fusca_), as far south as latitude 57° 41′, which appeared to be nearly
their southern limit. Their northern limit of migration on the Atlantic
shores of South America is somewhere about the River La Plata, and on
the Pacific coasts about the southern parts of Peru.”
In Dr. Pickering’s Journal this bird is alluded to frequently, and
especially as occurring at sea north of the Hawaiian Islands, and on the
coast of Oregon. His observations agree with those by Mr. Peale, above
quoted.
This species is given by Messrs. Temminck and Schlegel, as a bird of
Japan, in their Fauna Japonica, and is well figured in its young
plumage, but they give no account of its manners or history.
The figure in our plate represents the adult male, and was made from a
specimen obtained on the coast of Kamtschatka, now in the Museum of the
Philadelphia Academy, but precisely similar to others in the collection
of the Exploring Expedition in the National Museum, Washington city.