16 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 
FAMILY PICIDA. 
HE Woodpeckers and Wrynecks are allied to the Nightjars, Swifts, and Passeres 
in their cranial characters, to the Kingfishers, Rollers and Bee-eaters in the 
form of the breast-bone, but in the structure of their muscles and digestive organs to 
the Kingfishers and Hoopoes. They have a long worm-like tongue, spined at the tip 
and capable of being exserted for a considerable distance from the bill; it is also 
coated with a viscid secretion by the action of the salivary glands. The toes are 
specially formed for climbing, two toes being placed in front and two behind; the bill 
is long and wedge-shaped; the wings have ten primaries and the tail consists of from 
ten to twelve feathers. 
Two Subfamilies of Woodpeckers are represented in the British Isles, the 
Tyngine (Wrynecks) and Piccne (true Woodpeckers): the former differ from the latter 
in their somewhat shorter bills, their tail-feathers, which are ten in number, soft, 
instead of stiff and pointed, and their first primary small. 
All the Woodpeckers breed in holes, usually in trees, making no nest, but laying 
their eggs on the rotten wood at the bottom of the hole; the eggs are always pure 
white and shining. The whole of the Prcde@ are climbing birds, capable of running 
up the trunk of a tree with great speed; the true Woodpeckers obtain most of 
their food by tapping on the bark until they discover a hollow spot into which they 
dig with their strong bills extracting therefrom both larve and insects, but the 
Wrynecks and some of the Woodpeckers live largely upon ants, which they obtain 
upon the ground, whilst some of the American species eat nuts, fruit, and probably 
eggs. 
The flight of the Woodpeckers is somewhat irregular and undulating, and their 
notes are mostly harsh. 
If hand-reared the Picide are perhaps the most suitable of all the European 
Piarie for avicultural purposes; but, as Swaysland observes:—‘It is always 
advisable to keep these birds separate from their own species, as they invariably 
fight, and will even kill one another, as we can unfortunately vouch from experience. 
The young had better be placed in separate baskets when about a fortnight old.” 
