WOODPECKERS AND ALLIED SPECIES. 71 



of the tarsus and fourth toe. After a careful examination of 

 numerous species, I feel convinced that the Picinse are formed 

 of several genera, which, however, exhibit so little variation 

 in structure, that in presenting the history of the few which 

 occur in Britain, it is quite unnecessary to perplex the reader 

 with insignificant distinctions. The groups into which the 

 Woodpeckers might be disposed, cannot be recognised by marks 

 in any degree approaching in prominence to those of the genera 

 of the FalconlnjE, Psittacinse, Columbinae, Gallinas, and other 

 natural and equivalent families. The only one of the proposed 

 genera that would seem to a beginner to have some right to 

 stand apart, is Colaptes, of which however the characters are 

 derived from very slight variations in the bill, which has the 

 culmen a little more arched than is usual, and the wings with 

 stronger or at least more conspicuous shafts. 



The genus Yunx, which differs in having the bill shorter 

 and more depressed, and the tail soft, may be appended to the 

 Picinae, as the tongue and digestive organs are nearly similar ; 

 and Yunx minutissimus of authors is certainly more of a Wood- 

 pecker than a Wryneck, although its tail is not stiff. 



SYNOPSIS OF THE BRITISH GENERA AND SPECIES. 



GENUS I. PICUS. WOODPECKER. 



Bill about the length of the head, strong, compact, with its 

 horny covering very thick, straight, pentagonal at the base, 

 four-sided towards the end, tapering to an abrupt, laterally be- 

 velled, point. Tail-feathers stiff, decurved, attenuated at the 

 end. 



1. Ficus Martlus, Great Black Woodpecker. Brownish- 

 black with red on the head. 



2. Picus Pipra. Pied Woodpecker. Male with the upper 

 part of the head, the back, and a band on the neck, bluish- 

 black, the occiput crimson ; the abdomen and lower tail-coverts 

 red. Female similar, but with the occiput black. 



3. Picus striolatus. Striated Woodpecker. Male with the crown 



