74 PICUS. WOODPECKER. 



part into a large sac, on which the proventicular glands are 

 dispersed. Stomach of moderate size, roundish, a little com- 

 pressed ; its muscular coat thick and composed of large fasci- 

 culi, the epithelium thin, dense, longitudinally rugous. In- 

 testine of moderate length and very wide ; no coeca ; cloaca 

 very large, globular or elliptical. Plate XIV, Figs. 4, 5, 6. 



Nostrils elliptical or oblong, in the forepart of the short nasal 

 groove, and concealed by reversed bristly feathers. Eyes of 

 moderate size. Aperture of ear also of moderate size, roundish, 

 the inner opening like a transverse slit. 



The general form is rather slender, the body somewhat elon- 

 gated, the neck of ordinary length, the head oblong, and of 

 moderate size. The feet very short ; the tarsus very short, not 

 robust, with eight anterior scutella, and numerous small scales 

 on the sides and behind ; the first toe very short and directed 

 outwards and backwards ; the second of moderate length, and 

 united as far as the second joint to the third, which is much 

 longer, and generally about equal to the fourth, which is se- 

 parated and directed backwards, so that the first and fourth 

 toes are in grasping placed in opposition to the second and third. 

 Claws remarkably large, much curved, extremely compressed, 

 their outline forming nearly a semicircle, their sides broadly 

 grooved, the tips extremely acute. 



Plumage generally soft and blended, the feathers ovate, with 

 a very slender plumule of few filaments, on the head oblong or 

 linear ; no bristles. Wings large, being broad and of mode- 

 rate length, much rounded, of nineteen quills ; the first very 

 small, being about a third of the length of the longest, which 

 is the fourth or fifth, the second about as long as the seventh. 

 Tail short or of moderate length, rounded or wedge-shaped, 

 of twelve feathers, of which the lateral are very short, and 

 lie over the next, the rest but especially the central, decurved, 

 with very strong elastic shafts, and tapering extremities, of 

 which the barbs or filaments are deflected, strong, elastic, and 

 by being pressed against the bark afford the bird a strong 

 support. Fig. 201. 



The Woodpeckers search the trunks and branches of trees, 

 especially those wdiich are decayed, for insects and larvfe, to 



