93 
202. CoccyzUs AMERICANUS. 
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 
Five instances of the occurrence of this species with us have been 
recorded by Mr. Harting in his ‘ Handbook of British Birds ’"—two in 
Ireland, two in Wales, and one in Cornwall. A figure will be found 
in Yarrell’s ‘ History of British Birds,’ vol. ii. p. 210, 
203. Coccyzus ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. 
Black-billed Cuckoo. 
One killed in the. county Antrim, Sept. 25, 1871, see ‘ Zoologist, 
1872, p. 3022. 
I have not considered it necessary to figure these two American 
species, as they certainly do not belong to our fauna. 
Family PICIDA. 
With the exception of Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia, 
Woodpeckers are distributed over the temperate and warmer regions 
of every country beth of the Old and the New World. About 300 
species are enumerated in the useful ‘ Hand-list of Birds’ of the late 
Mr. G. R. Gray, of the British Museum. As might naturally be 
supposed, much diversity of form exists among the members of so 
vast a body of birds, each form being especially adapted te some 
given purpose or locality, the boles and leafy foliage of trees, rocky 
parched plains and humid grassy meadows being alike resorted to 
by one or other of them. They are all zygodactyle in the form 
of their feet, although, in some cases, only a rudiment of one of 
the hind toes is found to exist. So far as my knowledge extends, 
they one and all deposit their beautiful shining white eggs in the 
boles of trees; but I think it probable that some few may occasionally 
place theirs in crevices ef rocks. Their principal food consists of 
insects and their larvee; the ground-frequenting species consume 
ants and their eggs in great numbers; and fruits and berries are 
not rejected by others. The species inhabiting Europe are about 
ten in number, four of which are represented in the present work ; 
and I here subjoin notices of the occurrence of two or three other 
accidental visitors from America. 
Subfamily PICINA. 
Genus Picus, 
Members of this truly arboreal form are found both in the Old and 
in the New World. ‘hey feed almost exclusively on insects and 
their larvae, but probably partake of spiders also, which they search 
for and extract from the bark of trees. 
