WOODPECKERS. 103 
Family IV. Pictpa. WooppEcKeErs. (Plate XXL.) 
This large and important family of scansorial birds with zygodac- 
tylous feet, including nearly four hundred species, ranges over almost 
the whole of the temperate and tropical regions of the world, but is 
absent from Madagascar, Polynesia, and Australia, It is divided into 
three subfamilies ; the true Woodpeckers (Picine), the Piculets (Pzewm- 
nine), and the Wrynecks (Iyngine). The bill is generally strong and 
wedge-shaped and modified into a powerful cutting weapon. With the 
chisel-like tip of the upper mandible propelled by the powerful neck- 
muscles, the bird can cut away the bark of trees to look for insects, 
open with ease hard-shelled fruits such as nuts, and make deep holes in 
the trunks or branches for its nest. In the eround-feeding forms, such 
as the species of Colaptes (1490), the pill is more curved. ‘The tongue is 
excessively long and vermiform, pointed and barbed at the tip and cap- 
able of great protrusion ; itis supplied with sticky mucus from the large 
salivary glands, which causes insects and their larvie and eggs to adhere 
to it. In nearly all the cornua or “ horns” of the hyoid bone which 
supports the tongue are of enormous jength, and slide round the skull, 
passing in a muscular sheath from the side of the gullet round the 
occiput to the base of the upper mandible. This extraordinary struc- 
ture is well shown in the preparations of the head of the Green Wood- 
pecker (Gecinus viridis) (1496, 1497) exhibited in the Case. 
The eggs are round and glossy, and the young when hatched are 
naked. 
The subfamily Picine includes the great bulk of the species, 
distinguished by having the tail composed of stiff pointed feathers 
which support the bird when climbing. Of the species which feed on 
the ground, examples will be found in Geocolaptes olivaceus (1489) of 
S. Africa, and the Golden-winged Woodpecker or Flicker (Colaptes 
auratus) (1490) of N. America. ‘The genus Gecinus includes a number 
of nearly allied species, the most familiar being the Green Woodpecker 
or “ Yaflle” (G. viridis) (1492), a common resident in many parts of 
England and Wales, and ranging across Europe to Persia. It feeds 
largely on ants, and may frequently be seen on the ground. Lewis’s 
Woodpecker (Asyndesmus torquatus) (1494), of Western N. America, 
is remarkable in having the feathers of the collar and underparts 
with the barbs disconnected. [See preparation. | Another handsome 
American genus is Melanerpes (1507-1510), of which five types are 
shown, the Ant-eating species (M. formacivorus) (1521), exhibited on the 
floor of the Case, being depicted in the act of laying up its winter store 
of nuts which it places in holes in the bark. The Rufous Woodpecker 
(Micropternus pheoceps) (1502), from South-eastern Asia, represents a 
[Case 66, | 
