This depiction of the White-Bill Woodpecker is taken from The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands (1731-1747) by famed naturalist Mark Catesby. He was one of several 18th-century explorers who ventured to remote areas of the world to document regional flora and fauna. A copy of the 1771 edition of the two-volume work is in the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation collection.

Catesby wrote, "The bills of these birds are much valued by the Canada Indians, who make coronets of them for their princes and great warriors."