510 CLASS AVES. 



now under review. Their hard tongue, armed with solid 

 corneous papillae, is a very proper weapon for seizing the 

 insects, 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 recognized by 

 the redoubled blows with which they strike the trees, to ter- 

 rify the insects which are concealed under the bark, or catch 

 them, if the wood be soft enough to yield to their strokes. 

 The woodpeckers are never fat; their flesh is hard, coriaceous, 

 black, and, consequently, in little estimation. Their plumage 

 is exceedingly varied, and they exhibit in the upper parts of 

 it, all colours, blue excepted. 



The woodpeckers are continually occupied in hollowing 

 trees : into the holes of these they retire during the night, 

 and also when they lay their eggs, which the female deposits 

 there without making any nest. The father and mother keep 

 their young ones there until the latter are fit 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 ; even Buffon was acquainted with nine and 

 thirty ; but since his time the number has been wonderfully 

 increased. They are extended over the globe, through every 

 latitude ; two-thirds of them are found between the tropics, 

 but they abound in the greatest numbers in the humid forests 

 of America. It is, however, remarkable enough, that none are 

 to be found in New Holland. 



Though the woodpeckers constitute a very natural genus, 

 and all appear, as though they were formed on one type, yet 



