WOODPECKER. 551 



£T 9 4J. Black- breafted W. N°4&- Minute W. 



44. Red -cheeked W. 49. Gold-winged W. 



45. Rufous W. Var. A. 



46. Yellow-headed W. 50. Crimfon breafted W. 



47. Red-winged W. 



* * WITH THREE TOES. 



5 1. Three-toed Northern W. 

 Var. A. Southern W. 



THE bill in this genus is ftrait, ftrong, angular, and cuneated: 

 at the end *. 

 Noftrils covered with briftles reflected dov/n. 

 Tongue very long, (lender, cylindric, bony,. hard, and jagged 

 at the end ; miflile. 



Toes two forward, two backward -J". - 



Tail confifting of ten hard, ftiff, fharp-pointed feathers. 



The grand character! ftic of thefe birds is the tongue (which in 

 no bird is fimilar, the Wryneck excepted, whofe other characters 

 however differ too widely to give it place in this clafs) the 

 mufcles necefTary to the motions of which, are Angular and wor- 

 thy of notice ; affording the animal means of darting it forwards 

 the whole length, or drawing it within the mouth at will $. 



* N° 49 and 50 are excepted, as the bill in thefe is bent, and angular only 

 on the top. 



f N° 5 1 has only one backward, there being only three in all. 



J See Ray on the Creation, p. l^.—Derkatn's Pbyjic. Thiol, p. 342. Note C.- 

 Will, orn. p. 156. t. 21. 



Picus- 



