CHAPTER VI. 



WOODPECKERS, BARBETS, ETC. 



THE Pittas bring us to the end of the Passerine birds 

 and the few species I shall have to deal with now will 

 belong to quite other groups, which are easily made 

 out. 



THE WOODPECKERS. 



These are known to the natives as Kat-tokra, and are 

 very easily recognizable birds. They have a straight, 

 tapering, chisel-tipped bill and feet with only two toes in 

 front and one or two behind ; the outer front toe being 

 as it were turned back, so that the real hind toe is rather 

 thrown into the shade, and is often very small, or may 

 be dispensed with altogether. 



The tongue of a Woodpecker is a most curious structure ; 

 it is long and wormlike, with a horny tip furnished with 

 numerous barbs, and can be shot out of the mouth for 

 some distance, the arms of the hyoid or tongue-bone 

 being long and curved right round over the head under 

 the scalp, and acting like a pair of springs. In young 

 birds the barbs at the tip of the tongue are not developed 

 at first. 



Another very characteristic point of the structure of 

 most Woodpeckers is the tail. This is rather short, with 



