PICID^E — THE WOODPECKERS — MELANERPES. 



401 



of ^lay tliey had deserted the mistletoe entirely, and were proljably feeding 

 their young on insects. According to Heermann, they burrow holes in the 

 giant cactus {Ccrcus gicjantciis), which often grows forty feet high along tlie 

 Gila, and at Tucsou tliey frecj^uent the corn-fields. 



Genus MELANERPES, Swainson. 



Melnnerpes, Swainsox, Fauna l5or. Amor. II. 1!<;51. (Type, ^^. erijlhrocephahix.) 

 Mdampicus (Section 3), JIaliierre, Mem. Ac. Metz, 1849, .'iG."). 



Gen. Char. Bill about ctjual to the head : hroader than high at the base, but becom- 

 ing compressed immediately anterior to the coramenceiuent of the gonys. Culmen and 

 gonys with a moderately decided angular ridge ; both decidedly curved from the very- 

 base. A rather prominent acute riilge commences at the base of the mandible, a little 

 below the ridge of the cuhiien. and proceeds but a shcjrt distance anterior to the nostrils 



M. forrnirivormt. 



(about one third of the way), when it sinks down, ami the bill is then smooth. The lateral 

 outlines are gently concave from the basal two thirds ; then gently convex to the tip, 

 wliich docs not e.xliibit any abrupt bevelling. Xostrils open, broadly oval ; not concealed 

 by the feathers, nor entirely basal. The outer pair of toes equal. Wings long, broad ; 

 third and fourth quills longest. Tail feathers broad. Back plain black. 



Species of this genus are (|uite numerous in America, including tlie 

 West Indies, but do not occur in the Old World. They are among the 

 most brightly colored of woodpeckers, and usually present themselves in 

 considerable aliundance where fnuud at all. 

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