TREE-PECKERS 



3*5 



Brazil, is notable from the circumstance that it whistles like an oriole, both sexes 

 singing together, and the female always having the last note. The crested fly- 

 catchers form a group indigenous to Central America, the grey crested species 

 (Ptilogonys cinereus) being pale grey in the male sex, and pale brown in the 

 females. 



The swallows are represented in the region by the purple martins, of which 

 there are several species. 



Passing on to another group, the piculets, or tree-peckers 

 (Dendrocolaptes), of which there are a large number of species, are 



ORANGE TROUPIAL. 



very similar in habits to woodpeckers. This is also the case with the sickle-beaked 

 tree-peckers, distinguished by the strongly bent, thin, and sickle-shaped beak. The 

 common species {X iphorhynchus procurvus), which is confined to the tropics and 

 is about the size of a hoopoe, is brown in colour, streaked on the head, neck, and 

 lower-parts with white. 



The tree-runners are easily distinguished by the pointed shafts of the feathers 

 extending beyond the webs, these shafts being soft. In this group the tregadors 

 are creepers of thrush-like or nightingale-like appearance, which climb trees like 

 tits in search of insects and grubs ; a well-known representative being the russet- 

 coloured tregador (Philydor rufus) of Brazil. 



VOL. II. — 25 



