268 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



elastic, to support the body when climbing. The two outermost 

 feathers are soft and almost rudimentary, but are more developed 

 in two of the sub-families. The outer posterior toe, sometimes 

 called the versatile toe, and the outer anterior (or middle) toe, 

 are long, and all the claws are much curved. 



The tongue is long, vermiform, furnished at the tip with 

 retroverted spines, and by means of the action of the elastic 

 cornua of the hyoid bone, which are greatly elongated, it can be 

 thrust far out of the bill. It is also supplied with a viscid mucus, 

 secreted by the large salivary glands. When the tongue is 

 retracted it is by means of muscles, which wind round the trachea 

 like ribands, the horns of the os hyoides sliding round the skull 

 beneath the skin, nearly to the base of the upper mandible, and the 

 sheath of the tongue corrugating into folds at the bottom of the 

 throat. The stomach is almost membranous, and they have no 

 coeca. The sternum has a double notch on each side ; the furcula 

 is closed, but not joined to the sternum ; the cervical vertebrae are 

 very strong, and the last caudal vertebra is unusually large, with 

 a spinous process, and a pentangular disk on its lower surface. 

 This is evidently to support the tail, Avhich becomes an organ of 

 locomotion in this family. 



Woodpeckers are pre-eminently climbing birds, making their 

 way up the perpendicular stem of a tree, with great rapidity, 

 pressing their stiff tail against the bark. They cannot, however, 

 make their way down a tree, like the Nuthatches ; but, if they 

 ■wish to descend a short distance, they can only do so obliquely 

 with the tail downward. They live chiefly on insects, and especially 

 larvae, which they discover by tapping on the tree ; and Avhen 

 they find a hollow spot, they dig vigorously into it with their 

 powerful bills, aided by their long neck, and the way the head 

 is set thereon. Their long tongue is able to penetrate deep 

 into holes and crevices, and by means of its barbed extremity and 

 the glutinous saliva with which its tip is covered, they are enabled 

 to bring out both large and small larvae and insects. A few of the 

 Woodpeckers feed habitually on the ground on ants and other 

 insects, and some (the Piculets) appear to hop about brushwood and 

 fallen trees. Some of the American Woodpeckers eat luits, fruit. 



