SCANSORI^. 331 



between the Great and Little Spotted Woodpecker; black, spot- 

 ted with white .above; calotte of the male orange; that of the fe- 

 male, white. 

 We might also make a subgenus of those species whose slightly 

 arcuated beak begins to approach the Cuckoos. (1) One of them 

 always seeks its food on the ground, although its tail is similar to 

 the others. (2) 



YuNX, Linn.(3) 



The Wrynecks have the protractile tongue of the Woodpeckers, 

 which is also moved by the same kind of mechanism, but the spines 

 are wanting; their straight and pointed beak is nearly round, and 

 without any angles; the quills of their tail are like those of birds in 

 general. Their mode of life is that of the Woodpeckers, except that 

 they climb but seldom. There is one of them in Europe. 



F. torquilla, L.; Enl, 698; Naum. 138. (The Common Wry- 

 neck.) The size of a Lark; brown above, prettily vermiculated 

 with small blackish waves, and longitudinal fawn coloured and 

 black streaks; whitish, transversely striped with black beneath. 

 It derives its name from its singular habit, when surprised, of 

 twisting its head and neck in opposite directions. 

 The PicuMNi, Temm. can scarcely be said to differ from the Wry- 

 necks, except in their very short tail. They are very small birds,(4) 

 some of which have but three toes like the Picoides.(5) 



CucuLus, Lin. (6) 



The Cuckoos have a middling, well cleft, compressed, and slightly 

 arcuated beak; the tail, long. They live on insects, and are birds 

 passage. We subdivide this numerous genus as follows: 



(1) Such as the Picus auratus {Cuculus auratus of the 10th Ed.) Enl. 695 and 

 Wils. I, iii; Picus cafer. Lath, ov proniHpic, Vaill. Prom. 32; P. poicilophos, T. 

 Col. 198, f. 1. 



(2) Picus arator. Nob., Vaill. Afr. pi. cclv and cclvi. 



The only additional abstraction that we make from the genus Picus, is the P. 

 minutus. Lath. ( Yunx minutissimus, Gm. Enl. 786, 1; Vieill. Gal. 28), which in 

 fact is a Wry-neck. 



(3) XuNX, the Greek name of this bird, ToRauiLiA the Latin one. 



(4) P. minule, T. (Yunx minuiissima) Gm. Enl. 786, 1; P. d foupet [Picum- 

 nus cirrhatus, T.) Col. 371, 1; Vieill. Gal. 28; P.mignon {P. exilis, T.); Col. 

 571, 2. 



(5) P. abnormis, T., Col. 371, 3. 



(6) KoKKv^, cuculus, cuckoo, expresses the cry of the European .species. 



