164 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



The Woodpecker (") pleas'd left his " hollow 

 beech tree ; M 

 In the crowd he appear'd, join'd by rapture and glee. 



u melancholy wail," which she does in a Sonnet that has many 

 admirers, may be questioned : 



" Soothed by the murmurs of the sea-beat shore, 

 His dun-grey plumage floating to the gale, 

 The Curlew blends his melancholy wail 

 With those hoarse sounds the rushing waters pour." 



This lady, following our Dictionaries and Poets, accents 

 Cur'lew on the first syllable ; it is however pronounced very 

 often, I believe almost always, in the west of England with the 

 accent on the last, Cjirleto' : I have in the text, much against 

 my inclination, followed the printed custom. 



The Pigmea or Pigmy Curlew is about the size of a Lark; 

 weighs scarcely two ounces ; it is a very rare bird ; one is said 

 to have been killed in Holland, another in Kent. 



The Curlew has been arranged as a distinct genus by Dr. 

 Latham, under the term Numenius, with fifteen species. 



(") Order Yicje, (Linn.) Woodpecker, the Great 

 Black, the Green, the Golden-winged, the Ivory - 



BILLED, &C. 



The Genus Picus or Woodpecker, (Linn.) comprises above 

 ninety species, five of which are common to this country. The 

 tribe are distinguished by a straight angular bill, wedged at the 

 tip ; nostrils covered with reflected bristles ; tongue much 

 longer than the bill, round, worm-shaped, bony, missile, dag- 

 gered, beset at the point with bristles, bent back ; tail feathers 

 ten, stiff, sharp-pointed ; feet scansile. The following are the 

 chief of this very curious genus, which are principally inhabi- 

 tants of America. 



