GREEN WOODPECKERS. 



257 



Stih-F amily IV. 

 THE GREEN WOODPECKERS. GECININ/E.* 



General Characteristics. — Bill more or less long, strone, and straight, with the 

 base broad and the sides compressed towards the tip, which is truncated and acute, 

 the sides sloping, and furnished with a lateral ridge, which springs from above the 

 nostrils and runs along near the culmen towards the end of the upper mandible for 

 two-thirds of its length. 



These birds are found in most parts of the Old World. They 

 reside singly or in pairs in forests and jungles. 



Fig. n3.— The G 



The type of this sub-family — 



The Green Woodpecker {Gccinus viridis), is the most common of our 

 limited number of British woodpeckers ; on the continent of Europe it is widely 

 distributed, inhabiting forests and woody districts, where its loud cry may be 

 often heard though the bird itself remains unseen. In some of its habits this 

 species differs from the woodpeckers generally, especially in the circumstance 



* 7*5, ge, theearih; kiv^u, kineo, to disturb: so called because it scratches up the earth in 

 search of food. 



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