152 WOODPECKEKS. 



and can be of no use for the direction of the aliment, or the 

 formation of the cry, which, in the two species of Paraguay, is 

 nothing more than may be expressed by the syllable rac* 



IV. WOODPECKEKS.f 



IN these birds the beak is generally straight, very rarely curved, 

 angular, not thick, and moderately long. The feet are short, and 

 usually adapted for climbing. 



ADDITIONAL. " Under the name Picus" says CTJVIEE, "which 

 we may translate by our popular term Woodpecker, naturalists 

 unite a number of birds, which constitute a very natural genus 

 of the order Scansores. Their hard tongue, armed with solid 

 corneous papillae, is a very proper weapon for seizing the in- 

 sects, and more especially the soft larvae which these birds seek 

 under the bark, or in the tender and rotten wood of old trees. 

 The feet, furnished with claws, strong and crooked, assist them 

 in climbing along the trees, which they most frequently ascend 

 in a spiral direction : they are also capable of running along the 

 branches horizontally, and in opposition to their own proper 

 weight. 



" The cry of the Woodpeckers is sharp and piercing ; their 

 flight heavy, and by springs. They are easily recognised by the 

 redoubled blows with which they strike the trees, to terrify the 

 insects which are concealed under the bark, or catch them if the 

 wood be soft enough to yield to their strokes. The Wood- 

 peckers are never fat ; their flesh is hard, coriaceous, black, and, 

 consequently, in little estimation. Their plumage is exceedingly 

 various, and they exhibit in the upper parts of it all colours, blue 

 excepted. 



"Woodpeckers are continually occupied in hollowing trees, 

 into the holes of which they retire during the night, and also 

 when they lay their eggs, which the female deposits without 

 making any nest. The parents keep the young birds until they 

 are of age for reproduction. During the day they remain isolated, 

 and their life seems a laborious and active one. The species 

 of this genus are very numerous (four only are known as 

 British birds) ; even BUFFON was acquainted with nine-and- 

 thirty ; but since his time the number has been wonderfully in- 

 creased. They are extended over the globe through every lati- 

 tude ; two-thirds of them are found between the tropics j but 



* Griffith's Cuvier, vol. vii. p. 546. 

 f* Pici Spechtartige Vogel^ BECH. 



