WOODPECKERS. 19 
Land, which, as I have ascertained by dissection, feeds principally on the 
small bulbs of the terrestrial Orchidacee, for procuring which its lengthened 
upper mandible is admirably adapted, while it is more than probable that no 
food of this kind is to be obtained by the New Guinea bird, the structure of 
whose bill indicates that hard seeds and nuts constitute the principal part 
of its diet. The crops and stomachs of those killed in Van Diemen’s Land 
were very muscular, and contained seeds, grain, native bread (a species 
of fungus), small tuberose, and bulbous roots, and, in most instances, 
large stones.” 
As may be readily imagined, this bird is not upon favorable terms with the 
agriculturists, upon whose fields of newly-sown grain and ripening maize it 
commits the greatest devastations : it is consequently hunted down wherever 
it is found 
a circumstance which tends much to lessen its numbers. It is 
still, however, very abundant, moving about in flocks, varying from a hun- 
dred to a thousand in number, and evinces a decided preference to the open 
plains and cleared lands, rather than to the dense brushes near, the coast. 
“Except when feeding or reposing on the trees after a repast, the presence 
of a flock, if not seen, is certain to be indicated by their horrid, screaming 
notes, the discordance of which may be slightly conceived by those who have 
heard the peculiarly loud, piercing, grating scream of the bird in captivity, 
always remembering the immense increase of the din occasioned by the large 
number of the birds uttering their disagreeable notes at the same moment : 
still I ever considered this annoyance amply compensated for by their 
sprightly actions, and the life their snowy forms imparted to the dense and 
never-varying green of the Australian forest 
a feeling participated in by 
Sir Thomas Mitchell, who says that amidst the umbrageous foliage, forming 
dense masses of shade, the White Cockatoos sported like spirits of light.” 
Fanity Pictom®. WooppreckeErs. 
These birds are generally distributed in both hemispheres. Mr. Swainson 
is of opinion that the structure of the Picide constitutes them the most. per- 
fect of all the climbing birds, for nature has rendered their whole organi- 
zation subservient to this particular power. “The feet,” he observes, 
“although short, are unusually strong; the nails are broad and crooked, 
and the toes placed in pairs, two forward and two backward. As an addi- 
tional and powerful support, in their rapid and perpendicular ascent up the 
trunks of trees, their tail feathers,” he remarks, “terminate in points, and 
are uncommonly hard, so that, being pressed against the bark, they assist 
the bird in its progress, or in keeping its position. The bill, destined for 
the laborious operation of penetrating the wood, or stripping off the bark 
of forest trees, is beautifully adapted for the purpose, being wedge-shaped, 
