Designation of the European Woodpeckers. 257 



tins'' was our P. viridis (Ornith. iv, p. 22, 1760), as was, by 

 his references, Gesner^s (Icon, Av. p. 36, 1555), Rzaczynski's 

 (Auctuar. hist. nat. reg. Polon. p. 413, ''1735"), Borlase's 

 (Nat. Hist, of Cornwall, p. 246, 1758), and Belongs (Portr. 

 d'oys. p. 74, 1557). 



Nevertheless, and notwithstanding all this, there seems to 

 have been no doubt in Linnseus^s mind that the Black 

 Woodpecker was the species which ought in future to be by 

 his followers consecrated to Mars; and as such, following the 

 determination of Prof. Newton (Ibis, 1876, p. 99), we must 

 ever regard it as the type of the genus Picus. 



As for the subsequent divisions of this eminently natural 

 genus, the first to break it up was Lacepede, who (Mem. de 

 rinst. vol. iii. p. 509, 1801, in a paper ''lu le 6 fructidor an 

 6 " [ = Aug. 23, 1 798] ) proposed Picoides for the three-toed 

 species. Then Koch (Syst. Baier. Zool. i. 72, 1816) distin- 

 guished the Spotted Woodpeckers (including P. tridactylus) 

 as Dendrocopi. And Boie (Oken^s Isis, col. 542, 1831) esta- 

 blished Gecinus for the Green Woodpeckers ; his previously- 

 founded genus Dryocopus (Isis, col. 977, 1826) for the Black 

 Woodpeckers having been, by the present showing, an unne- 

 cessary addition to synonymy. 



For it seems clear, beyond all cavil, that Linnaeus took 

 P. martius to be the bird most typically a Picus, the very 

 fact of his having no precedent seeming to add weight to his 

 decision ; for he cannot have been ignorant of the usage of 

 his predecessors and contemporaries. And if this be so, it 

 remains that the Woodpeckers (which alone I now review) 

 must hereafter be named as follows, viz. : — 



Picus martius. 



Dendrocopus major, leuconotus, medius, minor. 



Picoides tridactylus. 



Gecinus viridis, canus. 



Nor can the use of any other type or generic name, it 

 seems to me, be any thing but a wilful violation of accepted 

 laws. If other cases were similarly clear, the problems of 

 nomenclature would be simple indeed. 



