YUNX. 433 



yellowish white. (Oates.) Bill black in the male ; reddish brown to a dirty 

 orange or ochraceous brown in the female ; legs and feet orange ; irides dull 

 red ; orbital skin brown. (Davison.) 



Length i inches; tail 2-1 ; wing 3-2; tarsus 0-85 ; bill from gape 1-2. 



jj a l, t South Tenasserim down the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra. Found in 

 small parties of 34 ; sometimes in pairs, and occasionally singly, hunting 

 about the leaves, branches, and trunks of trees. Feeds on insects and fruit. 



ORDER. PICI. 



Zygodactylous birds, characterized by their striking and singular habits, to 

 which their whole structure is adapted. They have large and strong bills, with 

 the point sharp and wedge-shaped for the purpose of penetrating through the 

 bark of trees in search of insect food in the decayed parts. The neck is 

 short and furnished with strong muscles to enable them to strike with such force 

 as to be heard at a distance. The tongue is long and extensile, at the end of 

 which is a horny barbed probe-like substance, with which it extracts the 

 insects from the crevices. Tail of 12 feathers, ten of them stiff-shafted, pointed 

 at the ends and bent inwards to enable them to support themselves (together 

 with their sharp clawed feet) in the act of climbing the perpendicular branches 

 of trees. They breed in holes of trees, and lay shining white eggs. They are 

 divided into several sub -families, according to the form, length, and strength of 

 their bill, feet, and coloration. 



Family. PICID^E WOODPECKERS. 



Bill moderate or long, straight, angular, wedge-shaped ; wings moderate ; 4th 

 and 5th quills usually longest ; tail of 2 small outer feathers and ten with thick 

 and stiff shafts ; feet zygodactyle ; one toe sometimes absent ; plumage 

 varied, black and white, or green, crimson, yellow, and rufous mixed. Males with 

 generally a cheek stripe and a crimson tuft or crest ; nostrils apert or concealed 

 by bristles. 



Sub-Family. YUNCIN^E. 



Bill short, conical, somewhat round, straight and poi nted ; nostrils basal, 

 approximate, narrow, apert ; wings moderate, pointed ; $rd quill longest ; 2nd 

 and 3rd sub-equal; ist nearly as long; tail moderate, flexible, broad, of 12 

 feathers; feet zygodactyle, tarsus short ; plumage speckled. They breed in 

 holes and lay several white eggs. 



1035. Yunx torquilla, Linn., Syst. Nat. i. p. 172; Malh. t Mon. 

 Pic. p. 289, pi. cxxi., fig. 4 ; Jerd., B. Ind. i. p. 303 ; Hume, Nests and 

 Eggs Ind. B. p. 128 ; id., Sir. F. iii. p. 75 ; Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 103, pi. ; 

 Wardlaw- Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 458 ; Dav. et. Oust. Ois. Chine p. 55 ; 

 Hume and Dav., Str. F. vi. 149; Htime, Str. F. viii. p. 88; Blyth, B. 



