PICID.E. 



329 



purpose of sucking tlie eggs of pigeons. Their 

 note is lively, and so much resembles that of a 

 species of tree-frog which frequents the same places, 

 that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the one 

 from the other. They migrate during the night 

 from north to south, flying high up in the air, and 

 far apart, propelling themselves by flaps of their 

 wings repeated at the end of each successive curve 

 as they rise and sink in their flight. At the dawn of 

 day they alight on the tops of dead trees about the 

 plantations, and remain searching for food until the 

 approach of sunset, when they again, one after the 

 other, mount into the air and continue their journey. 

 The nest is formed in the trunk or large branches 

 of a tree. The female deposits six eggs, generally 

 on the bare wood. 



The type of this sub-family is — 



The Rusty Melanerpes {Melaneiyes rubiginosus). 



