66 



PRACTICAL ORNITHOLOGY. 



SEVENTH LESSON. 



REMARKS ON WOODPECKERS. STRUCTURE OF THE TONGUE OF PICUS 

 VIRIDIS, AND EXPLANATION OF THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS EX- 

 TENDED AND RETRACTED. ITS TRACHEA AND DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 

 DESCRIPTION OF PART OF THE COUNTY OF LEICESTER, INCLUDING 

 CHARNWOOD FOREST. 



More than half a year has elapsed since we had one of our 

 pleasant lessons in practical ornithology, and all that time I 

 have been anxiously expecting a Green Woodpecker from some 

 correspondent. One wrote to a friend to procure a specimen, 

 another made inquiries in London, a third engaged three diffe- 

 rent persons who were sure of obtaining a supply, a fourth, on 

 being apprized of my wishes, went out directly and shot one. 

 Here it is, preserved in spirits, along with two Nuthatches. 



The birds of the family of Picinae are remarkable for their 

 habit of ascending the trunks and branches of trees, while 

 clinging to which with their curved and sharp claws, they derive 

 considerable aid from their very stiff and strong tail, the tips 

 of the feathers of which are pressed against the bark. Another 

 peculiarity is seen in the form of their straight, tapering, angu- 

 lar, wedge-tipped bill, with wdiich they perforate or chip off 

 the bark and wood, in search of insects and their larvse. A 

 third striking character which they possess, although it is not 

 peculiar to them, is exhibited by their slender, stiff-pointed 

 and bristled or prickly tongue, which they have the power of 

 suddenly thrusting out, in order to draw with it into their 

 mouth the small insects on w^hich they feed. All the species 

 of Woodpecker, about twenty in number, which I have exa- 

 mined, present this structure, with slight modifications. 



The examination of organs is certainly the most pleasing and 

 important part of zoology, and, whatever superficial observers 



