U OODPECKERS. 5 5 1 



on making a capture it would seek a new perch, flying in a leisurely way, and 

 showing considerable hesitancy about selecting a place on which to settle. The same 

 observer also found the Panama puff-bird (Malacoptila panamensis) on the above- 

 named river, where it was rather rare ; stating that it is apparently confined to tin; 

 thick forests, where it keeps among the lower branches, at times even descending 

 to the bushes. A female bird shot by Mr. Richmond on the 23rd of May was 

 " about ready to deposit eggs ; it was shot from a twig directly in front of a hole 

 in a bamboo, in which its nest was probably located. The stomach was distended 

 with insects, principally locusts." 



The Woodpeckers. 



Family PiC'ID^E. 



Forming a kind of connecting link between the Perching Birds and the other 

 members of the present order, the woodpeckers constitute a group of considerable 

 interest. Like the majority of the order, the woodpeckers nest in holes, and lay 

 spotless white eggs; but instead of having either the Passerine or the bridged type 

 of palate, they have a somewhat intermediate form, in which the front of the bone 

 termed the vomer is slender, pointed, and slit, instead of being truncated. Moreover, 

 these birds have a distinctly climbing foot, thereby showing their affinity to the 

 other climbing members of the order, such as barbets, cuckoos, or toucans. The 

 structure of the tongue in woodpeckers is, however, entirely peculiar to the family, 

 a similar arrangement of the extensile tongue-bones being elsewhere found only in 

 the humming-birds and the sun-birds among the Passerines. The mechanism of the 

 woodpecker's tongue is somewhat as follows. In the majority of these birds the 

 tongue is long, worm-like, pointed, and barbed at the tip. To permit of its being 

 projected or withdrawn as required, the extremities of the supporting bones arc 

 prolonged backwards, sliding in a sheath curving round the top of the skull; and 

 the glands beneath it are greatly developed, secreting a viscid fluid, covering the 

 tongue and causing insects to adhere to it. The peculiar modification of these 

 organs and their application in procuring food are, indeed, closely analogous to 

 those found in the anteaters and several other mammals, and the chameleon among 

 reptiles. In some species the extremities of the tongue-bones slide backwards and 

 forwards in the sheath as the tongue is retracted or protruded : while, in others, 

 as in the common English green woodpecker, their ends are fixed to the sheath, 

 and the protrusion of the tongue is caused by the action of a certain muscle 

 diminishing the curve in which the extremities of the tongue-bones Lie when the 

 tongue itself is withdrawn. In only two American genera of the family is this 

 remarkable structure absent. The bill in all the woodpeckers is strong and chisel- 

 shaped, and is thus admirably adapted for hewing holes, and prising off bark to 

 capture insects; the viscid secretion on the tongue being of great use in the Latter 

 function; but in the ground-haunting species the bill is less powerful. 



There is very little variation in the habits of the member of this family; 

 nearly all climbing trees, in the stems of which they bore out holes for their 

 nesting-place; the direction of the aperture being at first horizontal and then 



