THE WOODPECKERS. 



"Ill some species the hyoid cornua slide backwards and 

 forwards in the sheath as the tongue is retracted or protruded ; 

 in others, as in the common English Green Woodpecker, their 

 ends are fixed to the sheath, and the protrusion of the tongue 

 is caused by the action of the genio-hyoid {protractor liiigticE) 

 diminishing the curve in which the cornua lie when the tongue 

 is withdrawn." 



Another curious anatomical feature in the Woodpeckers is 

 found in the base of the skull, the vomer being slender and 

 split, with the lateral halves separated. The late Professor 



-rrvpl-2>- T 



Ventral view of skull oi Dendrocopus major (enlarged). [From the Cata- 

 logue of the Osteological Specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons.], w//. /. maxillo-palatine process, //. palatine, pg. pterygoid. 



W. Kitchen Parker described this feature of the Woodpecker's 

 skull as " saurognathous," on account of its Saurian or Rep- 

 tilian character. 



Other anatomical characters may be added for the definition 

 of this Sub-order, and may be found in all recent works on 

 avian anatomy, but they need not be further mentioned here. 



THE WOODPECKERS. FAMILY PICID^. 



The late Mr. Edward Hargitt, our best authority on this 

 Family, and to whose work we are indebted for much of the in- 

 formation here given, divides the PicidcT: into three Sub-famihes, 



B 2 



