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Genus PICOIDES. 



Picus apud Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 177 (1766). 



Picoides, Lacepede, Mem. de l'lnst. an 9, iii. p. 509 (1801). 



Tridactylia apud Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool. ix. p. 218 (1815). 



Dendrocopus apud Koch, Baier. Zool. i. p. 74 (1816). 



Dryobates apud Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 326. 



Picoides, C. L. Brehm, ex Lacepede, Isis, 1828, p. 1274. 



Aptemus apud Swainson, Faun. Bor.-Am. Aves, p. 301 (1831). 



Pipodes apud Gloger, Handb. d. Naturg. p. 198 (1844). 



This group (which includes the European and American species which have only three instead 

 of four toes) is one of the most distinct of the genera of our European Woodpeckers. It is 

 represented in the Palsearctic and Nearctic Regions only, inhabiting the northern portions of 

 those regions, but one species being found in the Western Palsearctic Region. 



In general habits, food, and mode of nidification the Three-toed Woodpeckers do not differ 

 from the species included in the genus Picus ; and, like them, they deposit pure-white glossy 

 eggs. 



Picoides tridactylus, the type of the genus, has the bill as in Picus, but rather more slender 

 and longer, the wings long, broad, the first quill very short, the second shorter than the sixth, 

 the fourth longest ; tail rather long, wedge-shaped, the feathers stiff, the central ones deflected 

 at the tip ; feet short, stout ; toes rather long, strong, only three in number — one, long, directed 

 backwards, and two, moderately long, directed forwards ; claws very strong, curved, acute. 



There is some difficulty in deciding which name should properly be used for the present 

 genus. Picoides was first given by Lacepede in a paper read in 1798, but not published until 

 1801 ; but he does not give a type, or even name any species as belonging to the genus, and we 

 have only the authority of subsequent authors that he meant this genus to include the Three- 

 toed Woodpeckers. The next title in order of date is Tridactylia, Stephens (1815), his type 

 being Picoides hirsutus ; but it is obviously inexpedient to use this name, as it has never been 

 recognized, and it would necessitate a fresh specific name for Picoides tridactylus, a course to be 

 strongly deprecated. Next comes Picoides, C. L. Brehm, ex Lacepede (his type being Picoides 

 tridactylus), which appears to me to be the best generic name to adopt, it having the precedence 

 of Aptemus, Swainson, by three years. 



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