480 



BIllDS OF BRITISH Gl'IANA. 



family PICID^. 



The Woodpeckers are medium and small sized birds. Their 

 plumage is generally harsh in texture and variously coloured. 

 Their bills are very strong, straight, and -wedge-shaped at the tip. 

 Their necks are thin. Their wings are usually rounded, the third, 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth quills being longest and subequal. Their 

 tails are generally rounded, the feathers being pointed and the 

 shafts much stiffened. Their legs are short, their feet small, their 

 toes four in number, two being directed forwards and two back- 

 wards, and their claws are strong and sharply curved. 



They are distributed in Europe, Africa, Asia, North, Central, 

 and South America, and the "West India Islands. There are fifteen 

 genera and about one hundred and fifty-two species known to 

 occur in South America, nine genera and sixteen species being 

 represented in British Guiana. 



Ficits vi>-iJis. 



* Fig. 94r. — To show the prehensile tongue. 

 ff.s. Glandula sublingualis, h. Hyoid. 



* These figures were taken from specimens in the British ^Museum 

 (Natural History). 



