woodpecker (wudpek"er)

Any bird of the large family Picidæ, of which there are numerous genera and some 250 species, inhabiting nearly all parts of the world. They are picarian and scansorial birds, having the toes arranged in pairs, two before and two behind (except, of course, in the three toed genera: see Picoides1, and cut under Tiga ); the tail feathers rigid and acuminate, to a ist in climbing; the bill hard and chisel-like, adapted for boring wood (whence the name); and a remarkable structure of the palatal and hyoidean bones and salivary glands. (See cuts under sal i vary and saurognathous.) The tongue is capable, in most species, of being thrust far out of the mouth, and is lumbriciform. (See cut under sagittilingual.) The plumage as a rule is variegated in intricate patterns of coloration, and usually includes bright, rich, or striking tints. Insects constitute most of their food; their eggs are white, and are laid in holes they dig in trees; their voice is harsh and abrupt. They are of great service to man by destroying insects which infest trees. See Picidæ, and numerous cuts there cited. -Arizona woodpecker, Picus ( Dendro cop us ) arizonæ, a bird lately discovered in Arizona, and for some time called Picus strick land i, but distinct from Strick land's woodpecker in having the upper parts of a uniform light-brown color and the spots of the under parts guttiform. Hargitt, Ibis, 1866, p. 115. - Audubon's woodpecker, the small southern form of the hairy woodpecker (which see), named Picus auduboni by W. Swain son in 1831, and renamed Picus auduboni by Dr. James Trudeau in 1837, without reference to the prior homonym. - Ayres's woodpecker, Colaptes ayresii of Audubon (1839), C. hybrid us of Baird (1858), Picus hybrid us aura to mexican us of Sun devall (1866), names covering the remarkable flickers of western North America, especially of the upper Mi ouri and adjacent regions, which present every step of the intergradation between the yellow-shafted and the red-shafted flickers (C. auratus and C. mexican us ); the so-called hybrid woodpecker. The coloration is so unstable that it often varies on right and left sides of the same specimen. The case is unique, and its interpretation continues in question by ornithologists. - Baird's woodpecker. (a) The Cuban ivorybill, Campo phil us bairdi, named by J. Ca in, in 1863, in compliment to Spencer Fuller ton Baird (1823-1887). (b) The Californian woodpecker, Melanerpes formic i vor us bairdi. - Bengal woodpecker, var. A, Brachypternus erythronotus, of Ceylon. Latham, 1782.- Bengal woodpecker, var. B, Chrysoco laptes lucid us, of the Philippines. Latham, 1782.-Black and-white-spotted woodpeckers, the numerous members of the restricted genus Picus (= Dendrocopus: see under great black woodpecker, below), usually 6 to 10 inches long, with four toes, the plumage variegated intricately with black and white, with a scarlet occipital band or pair of spots in the adult male. The greater and le er spotted woodpeckers of England, and the hairy and downy woodpeckers of the United States, are characteristic examples. - Black-backed three-toed woodpecker, Picoides arctic us, marked by the characters indicated in the name, 9 to 10 inches long, common in northerly parts of North America. - Black-breasted woodpecker, the adult female of the thyroid woodpecker. - Black woodpecker, the great black woodpecker.- Bristle-bellied woodpeckers, the genus Asyndesmus. Coues. - Brown headed woodpecker, the adult female of Sphyropicus thyroides; the thyroid woodpecker (see below). - Buff crested woodpecker (of Latham, 1782), the female of Campo phil us melanoleucus (the Picus albirostris of Vieillot), a white-billed crested woodpecker of tropical Amer ica, 13 inches long, congeneric with the ivorybill. - Cасtus woodpecker, Picus or Melanerpes cactorum, of Peru, Bolivia, Uruguay, and the Argentine Republic. Californian woodpecker, that race of Melanerpes formic i vor us (a Mexican species) which abounds in the United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific. It is 8 to 91 inches long, of a glo y blue-black color, with the rump, bases of all the quills, edge of the wing, and under parts from the breast white, the sides with sparse black streaks, the forehead white continuously with a stripe down in front of the eye and thence encircling the throat, the crown in the male crimson and white, in the female crimson, black, and white, the eyes white, often with a creamy or pinkish, sometimes bluish, tint. This is the woodpecker noted for drilling holes in dead boughs in which to insert acorns some branches being found thus drilled and studded with hundreds of acorns. - Canadian woodpecker, the large northern form of the hairy woodpecker (which see), formerly Picus can a dens is (Gmelin, 1788), and before that Picus leuco melas (Boddaert, 1783). - Cape woodpecker, the South African Me so pic us griseocephalus, 74 inches long, having the crown, crest, rump, upper tail coverts, and middle of the belly crimson. This bird was originally described in 1776 by Sonnini as pic verd de l'Isle de Luzon, whence Picus man ill ens is of Gmelin (1788), and Ma nill a green woodpecker of Latham; next by Buffon in 1780 as pic à tête grise du Cap de Bonne Espérance, whence Pi cus griseocephalus of Boddaert (1783) and Cape woodpecker; next by Scopoli in 1786 as Picus menstruus -this most frequent specific name indicating the bloody-red color of certain parts; next as pic olive by Levaillant (1806); also as Picus caniceps, P. obscurus, P. capensis. It has been placed in 6 different genera; its proper onym was first given by Ca in in 1863. - Carolina woodpecker, var. A, Melaner pes or Centurus radio lat us, peculiar to Jamaica. Latham, 1782.- Carolina woodpecker, var. B, the red-bellied woodpecker. Latham, 1782. - Collared woodpecker, Asyndesmus torquatus; Lewis's woodpecker.- Crawfurd's woodpecker, a bird so named by Gray in Griffith's Cuvier (1829), now called Thriponax crawfurdi, and supposed to be found near Ava in Burma, but known only from a drawing executed by a native artist for Mr. Crawfurd, Jr.-Crimson-breasted woodpecker, the monotypic Geocolaptes olivaceus (also Picus arator ), of South Africa, 94 to 10 inches long, much varied with olivaceous and reddish tints. Latham, 1783. Crimson-rumped woodpecker, Me so pic us goertan, the goertan or pic vert du Sénégal of early French writers, a West African species, 8 inches long, of a golden-olive color above, with scarlet rump and upper tail-coverts, and otherwise much variegated.-Cuban woodpecker, Nesoceleus fern and inæ, usually called Colaptes fern and inæ and Cuban flicker, 11 to 12 inches long, above olive-black barred with yellow, and confined to Cuba. - Downy woodpecker, Picus 6968 ( Dendrocopus ) pubescens, a small black and white species, 6 or 7 inches long, one of the commonest woodpeckers of eastern parts of North America, and among those popularly called sapsucker (which see). It is exactly like the hairy woodpecker, except in size, and in having the lateral tail feathers barred with black and white, instead of being entirely white. There is no such difference between the two as the terms downy and hairy would seem to imply. This species corresponds in the United States to the le er woodpecker all other woodpeckers in having the plumage of the under parts hair-like by reason of disconnection of the barbe of the feathers. It is 10 to 12 inches long, greenish-black with bronze luster, a patch of velvety crimson feathers on the face, the under parts and a collar round the neck hoary-gray, heightened to rose or lake-red on the belly. Also called collared and bristle - bellied woodpecker.-Lineated woodpecker, Ceophlœus or Dryocopus (formerly Pi cus) line at us, of Central and South America, of rather large pecker, Picus pubescens gairdneri, the western subspecies of the downy woodpecker, having few if any white spots on the black wing-coverts, and in some localities the belly smoky-gray: dedicated by Audubon in 1839 to Dr. Meredith Gairdner, a Scotch naturalist. - Gila woodpecker, the saguaro or pitahaya woodpecker. See cut under pitahaya. Gilded woodpecker. (a) An American flicker of the genus Colaptes, as the golden-winged woodpecker, C. au ratus. See cut under flicker2. (6) Specifically, one of these, C. chrysoides, of Arizona, Lower California, and southward, which resembles the common flicker in the body, tail, and wings, but has the head as in the Mexican flicker.Golden-shafted, golden-winged, gold-winged woodpecker, the common flicker, Colaptes auratus.-Gray headed woodpecker, Gecinus can us, a popinjay of nearly all Europe and much of Asia. Pennant, 1785, and more fully gray-headed green woodpecker (Edwards, 1747). Grayson's woodpecker, the ladder-backed woodpecker of the Tres Marias Islands off the Pacific coast of Mexico, named after Col. A. J. Grayson by Lawrence, in 1874, Pi cus scalar is, var. grays on i. - Great black woodpecker, Picus or Dryocopus martius, the largest European woodpecker, ranging in northerly latitudes through the Pale arctic region to Kamchatka and Japan. It is 17 inches long, black, with pointed scarlet crest in the male (the scarlet restricted in the female), and peculiar in having the tarsi extensively feathered. It corresponds to the pileated woodpecker of North America. Many authors a ume this isolated woodpecker to be monotypic of the restricted genus Picus, in which case the numerous smaller black and white species like the greater and le er spotted of Europe, and the hairy and downy of North America, are generically called Dendrocopus; but when these are left in Picus, the great black woodpecker is generically called Dryocopus, and upon it have also been based two other genera, Carbonarius of Kaup (1829) and Dryopicos [sic] of Malherbe (1848-9). See cut under Dryocopus. - Greater spotted woodpecker, Picus ( Dendrocopus ) major, ranging through nearly all of Europe and much of Asia. This is one of the woodpeckers common in Great Britain, there corresponding to the hairy woodpecker of the United States. It is 10 inches long, of black and white color in intricate pattern, the male with a red hindhead. See cut under Picus. - Green woodpecker, Gecinus virid is, the commonest woodpecker in Great Britain, with a host of provincial English names, dialectal variants of these, and various poetical epithets, but only about twenty New Latin names. (See cut under popinjay.) The genus Gecinus ranges through almost all the Pale arctic and Indian regions, where it is represented by 17 species. That mentioned inhabits the greater part of Europe, north to 60° N. lat., also Asia Minor and eastward to Persia. It is about 124 inches long, of a greenish color, variegated with crimson, yellow, white, black, etc. Green woodpecker of Mexicot, a bird described in 1734 by Seba as Ardea mexican a, and later in 1760 by Bri on as pic verd du Mexique, being a popinjay artificially fitted with the legs of some other bird and falsified as to habitat. - Hairy woodpecker, Picus ( Dendrocopus ) villosus, a common woodpecker of eastern North America, entirely black and white, the male with a scarlet occipital band, the size usually 9 or 10 inches, but varying from 8 to 11. This very exceptional gradation in size has caused the recognition of three varieties, major, medius, and minor, graded mainly according to latitude, the northernmost birds being the largest. These varieties have several synonyms, and in western North America the hairy woodpecker runs into yet other geographical or climatic races. - Half-billed woodpeckert (Latham, 1782), a nominal species, based on Picus semirostris of Linnæus (1766), which was a popinjay with a broken bill.- Harris's woodpecker, Picus villosus harris i, the hairy woodpecker of the regions from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, in which the white spots on the wing-coverts are few, if any, and the belly is smoky-gray in some localities. This subspecies is thus parallel with that of the downy woodpecker called Gairdner's, and was dedicated by Audubon in 1839 to Edward Harris. - Hybrid woodpecker, Ayres's woodpecker. - Imperial woodpecker, Campo phil us imperi alis, an ivory-billed and the largest known woodpecker, nearly 2 feet long, with black nasal plumules, no white stripe on the head or neck, a long occipital crest of scarlet, the secondaries tipped with white, the plumage otherwise black, and the bill white. This magnificent bird inhabits Mexico, and will probably be found in the United States near the Mexican border.-Ivory-billed woodpecker, the ivorybill; any member of the genus Campo phil us having a white bill. See cut under Campo phil us. - Javan three-toed woodpecker, the bird figured under Tiga (which see).-Ladder-backed three-toed woodpecker, Picoides american us, marked by the characters indicated in the name, 8 to 9 inches long, common in northerly parts of North America.-Ladder-backed woodpeckers, those small black-and-white-spotted woodpeckers whose upper parts are regularly barred cro wise with black and white, as the Texan woodpecker and related forms. Coues. - Larger red-crested woodpecker, the pileated woodpecker. Catesby, 1731.- Largest white-billed woodpecker, the ivorybill. Catesby, 1731.- Le er black woodpecker (Latham, 1782), the homonym of two different species of South American woodpeckers, Melanerpes rubrifrons and M. cruentatus. - Le er spotted woodpecker, Picus ( Dendrocopus ) minor, ranging through nearly all Europe, much of Asia, and parts of Africa. It is one of the woodpeckers common in Great Britain, where it corresponds to the downy woodpecker of the United States. It is 6 inches long, of black and white color in intricate pattern, the male with a red hindhead. - Lewis's woodpecker, Asyndesmus torquatus of Coues, originally Picus torquatus of Wilson (1811), named by the latter after its discoverer, Captain Meri wether Lewis, United States army. It inhabits western North America, chiefly in mountainous parts of the United States, and is generically distinct from resembling the pileated woodpecker, to which it is nearly related. - Little brown woodpecker, lyngipicus gym no pht halm us, of Ceylon and the point of the Indian peninsula, 44 inches long. Latham, 1787.- Magellanic woodpecker, Ipocrantor magellanicus, a monotypic species of Chili and Patagonia, 15 inches long, mostly blue black with scarlet crested head. - Malaccan woodpecker, Chrysophlegma malaccensis, of the Malay countries, Sumatra, and Borneo. It is one of a group of about 8 Oriental species of this genus. Latham, 1787. - Manilla green woodpecker, the Cape woodpecker (by a geographical blunder). Latham, 1782.- Maria's woodpecker, a young hairy woodpecker, named Picus martinz by Audubon in 1839 after a Mi Maria Martin. - Masked woodpeckers, the genus Xenopicus. Coues, 1884.- Narrow-fronted woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivoru an gust i frons, a variety found in Lower California, having not the forehead but the white frontal stripe narrower than usual. - Nubian woodpecker, the leading species of a group of about 12 species composing the Ethiopian genus Camp other a; C. nubica, of Aby in i a and south to equatorial Africa. Latham, 1782. - Nuchal woodpecker, a western variety of the sapsucker, Sphyropicus varius nuchal is, showing more red on the head, and thus an approach to S. ruber. - Nuttall's woodpecker, Picus ( Dendrocopus ) nuttalli, the ladder-backed woodpecker of the Pacific slope of the United States, very near the Texan: named in 1843 by Dr. W. Gambel in compliment to the botanist Thomas Nuttall. - Orange woodpecker, Brachypternus aurantius, of northern India, in part of the color named, and 11 inches long. the male of which was originally described in 1760 by Bri on as pic du Cap de Bonne Espérance, and the female the same year by the same as pic verd de Bengal, whence the Linnean (1766) Picus aurantius and Picus benga lens is. The same bird served also as the type of Malherbe's genus Brahmapicos, dedicated to the leading personage of the Hindu Trimurti. - Phillips's woodpecker, a young hairy woodpecker: so named as a distinct species in 1839, by Audubon, after Benjamin Phillips, F. R. S.- Pileated woodpecker, the black log-cock of North America, Hylotomus or Dryotomus or Phlœotomus or Ceophlœus pileatus, originally Picus pi leat us. See cut under pileated. Pole-backed three toed woodpecker, Picoides american us dorsal is, having a long white stripe lengthwise down the middle of the black back, of the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. Raffles's woodpecker, Gauropicoides raffles i, a monotype inhabiting Tena erim, the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, and Borneo, originally named Picus rafies by Vigors, in 1831, after Sir Stamford Raffles. The upper parts are mostly uniform golden-olive. - Rayed woodpecker, one of the zebra-woodpeckers, Picus or Centu rus or Zebra pic us striatus, of Hayti and San Domingo. La tham, 1782.-Red-bellied woodpecker, Centurus caroli nus, one of the zebra-woodpeckers, common in the United States. See cut under Centurus. - Red-breasted woodpecker, Sphyropicus ruber, the sapsucker of the Pacific coast of the United States, like S. varius, but having the whole head, neck, and breast carmine-red in both sexes. Red-cheeked woodpecker (of Edwards, 1764), Celeus undatus, a crested Amazonian species of a genus of 14 species peculiar to the Neo tropical region. -Red-cockaded woodpecker. See red - cockaded.- Red-headed woodpecker, Melanerpes erythrocephalus: so named by Catesby in 1731. See cut under Melanerpes. - Red-shafted woodpecker, the Mexican flicker, Colaptes mexicanUK. -Red-throated woodpecker, the adult male of the thyroid woodpecker, formerly described as Melanerрев rubrigularis (Sclater). - St. Lucas woodpecker, the ladder-backed woodpecker of Lower California: a local race called Picus scalar is leucasanus. - Sap-sucking woodpeckers, the true sapsuckers of the genus Sphyropicus (which see, with cut). - Smallest spotted woodpecker, the downy woodpecker. Catesby, 1731. - Strick land's woodpecker, Picus ( Dendrocopus ) strick land i, of southeastern Mexico, dedicated in 1845 by Malherbe to Hugh E. Strick land, principal author of the Strick land i an code of nomenclature in ornithology. It is 7 inches long, has the back and rump barred with blackish-brown and whitish, the under parts white, fully streaked with black.Superciliary woodpecker. See superciliary. - Texan woodpecker, the ladder-backed woodpecker of Texas to Arizona and southward to Yucatan, Picus ( Dendrocopus ) scalar is, 5 to 6 inches long, having the upper parts regularly barred cro wise with white and black. Also called Texas sapsucker. - Three-toed woodpecker, any species of several different genera of Picinæ, in which the first digit (inner hind toe) is lacking. This peculiarity recurs in genera otherwise very close to those in which the feet are normally yoke-toed, so that the species which exhibit it do not form a group by themselves. The three-toed genera are Picoides, Gauropicoides, Gecinulus, and Tiga (see cut under Tiga ). The same peculiarity marks the genus Sasia among the Picumnina. Thyroid woodpecker, Sphyropicus thyroideus, a remarkable sapsucker of western North America, the opposite sexes of which differ so much that they have been placed in separate genera, and repeatedly described as different species, called brown headed, red-throated, Williams on's, etc., woodpecker. Picus thyroideus (Ca in, 1851), Colaptes thyroideus, Picus na taliæ (Malherbe, 1854), Centurus natal iæ, Picus william son i (New berry, 1857), Melanerpes thyroideus, M. rubrigularis, etc. The length is 9 to 9 inches, the extent 16 to 17; the adult male is glo y blue-black, with scarlet throat, an oblique wing-bar, two stripes on each side of the head, and some other markings white; the female is only continuously black in a shield-shaped area on the breast, otherwise barred closely and regularly with black and white or whity-brown, the head uniform hair-brown.the quills marked with white spots in rows of pairs. The sexual differences begin with nestlings as soon as they are fledged, contrary to one of the broadest rules in ornithology - namely, that, when the adults of opposite sexes differ decidedly in IMG:content-2535.jpg:[blocks in formation] gray rabbit of the United States, Lepus sylvati- cus . See cut under cottontail . wood-rat (wud'rat), n. Any species of Neo- tom a , including large woodland rats of the United States, etc., of the family Muridæ , sub- family Murinæ , and section Sigmodontes , such as the Florida wood-rat, N. florid an a ; the Rocky Mountain wood-rat, N. cinerea ; the Cali- sending from northwestern Europe Manchurik, white, and Mongolia.-White-headed woodpecker, Xenopicus albolarvatus . See Xenopicus (with cut). -White-rumped woodpecker, the red-headed woodpecker. See cut un- der Melanerpes . Latham , 1782. Williams on's wood- pecker, adult male of the thyroid woodpecker, merly described by Dr. J. S. New berry in 1857 as Picus williams on i , after Lieutenant R. S. Williams on, United States army. Woodpecker hornbill, an Asiatic species of Bucerotidæ , Buceros pica (of Scopoli, 1786, now Anthraco- ceros cor on at us ), of a black and white color, inhabiting In- dia and Ceylon.-Yellow-bellied woodpecker, the com- mon sapsucker: so named originally by Catesby, 1731. See sapsucker (with cut), and Sphyropicus . - Yellow blue- footed Persian woodpeckert ( Picus lute us cyanopus wood-robin (wud'robin), n. rat, N. micropus ; the ferrugineous wood-rat of Mexico and Central America, N. ferruginea. See pack - rat (under rat1 ), and cut under Ne- wood-reed (wùd'rēd), n . See reed1. woodreeve (wud'rev), n . In England, the stew- ard or overseer of a wood or forest. The American U.S.] persicus of Aldrovandi), popinjay. Latham , Yellow-fronted woodpecker, Centurus aurifrons , one wood-thrush, Turdus mus tel in us . [Local, U. of the zebra-woodpeckers, of Texas and southward, havwood-rock (wud'rok), n. Ligniform asbestos. ing the for mule wish woodruff, woodroof (wud'ruf, -röf), n. [Early wood-shrimp (wud's hrimp), n. A boring or terebrant amphipod, amphipod, of the family Cheluridæ . See cut under Chelura . Woodsia (wud'zi-ä), n. [NL. (R. Brown, 1815), named after Joseph Woods , a British botanist.] A genus of delicate polypod i a ceo us fern ous ferns, na- tives of high temper at temperate or boreal latitudes. They are tufted ferns with the stipes often jointed and separating for rounds on the of simply forked free veins. The indusium is inferior, thin, either small and open or early bursting into irregular lobes at the top. There are 15 species, of which number 7 are found in North America. See cut under indusium . mod. E. woodrofe ; wodruffe , wuderove , woderove, wudu , wood, + * rofe , of uncertain meaning.] A rub i- aceous herb, Asperula odorata , of Europe and Asiatic Ru ia, more fully named sweet woodruff . It has a creeping rootstock sending up erect stems, the leaves whorled, chiefly in eights, the flowers small, white, in loose cymes. The plant, from the presence of coumarin, in parts of Europe it is used to flavor the spring beverage called May - drink (which see). Woodruff is sometimes wood-slave (wud'slāv), n. A Jamaican lizard, IMG:content-2536.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-2537.jpg:[blocks in formation] wood-rush (wud'rush), n. [ Luzula : also called glowworm-gra . The field wood-rush, Luzula cam- pestris , is an extremely common low plant of Europe and North America, having clusters of brown chaffy flowers appearing early in spring: in Great Britain it is locally called blackhead- or cuckoo -gra and chimney - sweeps . A larger species, L. sylvatic a , has the names wood - blades and wood - gra . wood-sage (wúd'sāj), n. See sage2 . wood-sandpiper (wud's and"pi-per), n. A com- mon tattler of Europe and much of the Old World, Totanus glareola , of the family Scolopa- cidæ , nearly related to the redshank and green- shank, and also to the American solitary sand- piper. wood-sanicle (wud's an"i-kl), n. See sanicle . wood-saret, n. A kind of froth seen on herbs; cuckoo-spit. The froth which they call wood seare , being like a kind of spittle, is found but upon certain herbs,.. as laven- der, sage, etc. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 497. wood-sawyer (wud'sa"yer), n. In entom ., same as sawyer , 4. wood-screw (wůd's krö), n . A screw specially made for use in fastening together parts of wooden structures or structures of wood and metal. The modern wood-screw has generally a conical point, like that of a gimlet. See cuts under countersink , screw , and screw -thread. wood-seret (wud'sēr), n. and a. [Also wood- seer ; wood1 + serel , sear1 .] I. n. The time when there is no sap in a tree. Tu er , May's Husbandry, st. 6. Aubrey, Misc., p. 211. ( Davies .) Wood's fusible alloy. See alloy . woodshed (wid's hed), n. A shed for keeping She looked so much like one of Elfie's own little dolls which she had thrown into the woodshed , out of the way, that she felt ashamed. St. Nicholas , XVIII. 288. woodsman (widz'man), n.; pl. woodsmen (-men). One who dwells in or frequents the woods, as a wood-cutter, sportsman, hunter, or the like. The sturdy woodsman . J. F. Cooper , Last of Mohicans, xxv. Things that are common to all woodsmen. Lowell , Study Windows, p. 202. An Owl and a Duck will resort to the same nest-box, set up by a scheming woodsman for his own advantage. Encyc. Brit ., III. 772. Wood's metal. See metal . wood-snail (wud's nal), n. A common snail of at Britain, Helix nemoral is. Great Britain, wood-snake (wud'snāk), n. Any serpent of the family Dryophidæ . IMG:content-2538.jpg:[graphic][merged small][merged small] wood-spirit (wud's pir it), n. Same as pyroxylic spirit . See pyroxylic . wood-spite (wud'spīt), n. [ wood1 + spite , var. of speight .] The green woodpecker, Gecinus vi- rid is. Also wood- spack . Will ugh by ; Ray . See cut under popinjay . [Prov. Eng.] wood-spurge (wud'spėrj), n . See spurge2 . wood-stamp (wud's tamp), n. A stamp, en- graved or carved in wood, for impre ing figures or colors on fabrics. The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: The Century dictionary IMG:content-2540.jpg:[blocks in formation] of the genus Calo thorax, as C. calliope.-2. The Bahaman shear tail, a humming-bird, Doricha evelynæ, common in New Providence and Andros islands. See shear tail. wood-still (wùd's til), n. A turpentine-still. wood-stone (wid's ton), n. Petrified wood; especially, silicified wood, such as that from Antigua, the desert of Cairo, etc.