564 ZOOLOGY. 
Sub-fam. 4. Gecine, or Green Woodpeckers. Bill more or less long, 
straight, base broad, sides with a lateral ridge; wings long, pointed ; tail 
long; tarsi and feet short and strong. Size larger, color generally green 
or yellow. 
The greater number of the birds of this sub-family are confined to the 
old world, many of which are large and handsome species, with plumage of 
various shades of green, and with the top of the head usually bright scarlet. 
They live entirely in the forests. The green woodpecker of Europe, 
Gecinus viridis (pl. 98, fig. '7), is a common bird of that continent, every- 
where to be seen climbing amongst trees of small growth, and sometimes in 
hedges and on the ground. There are several Indian species of beautiful 
plumage ; and a few are found in South America which have the plumage 
of dark brown or cinnamon color, with long crests of pale yellow, such as 
the citron-colored woodpecker (Celeus citrinus) and others. 
Sub-fam. 5. Melanerpine, or Black Woodpeckers. Bill rather long, com- 
pressed, with a lateral ridge; wings long and pointed ; tail rather long ; 
tarsi and feet short. Size various, color mostly black, or striped black and 
white. 
A sub-family of exclusively American birds inhabiting the entire conti- 
nent. 
~The red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is the best. 
known species. “There is, perhaps,” says Wilson, “no bird in North 
America more universally known than this. His tricolored plumage, red, 
white, and black, glossed with steel blue, is so striking and characteristic, 
and his predatory habits in the orchards and cornfields, added to his 
numbers and fondness for hovering along the fences, so very notorious, that 
almost every child is acquainted with the red-headed woodpecker. 
“Wherever you travel in the interior in the summer you hear them 
screaming from the adjoining woods, rattling on the dead limbs of trees, or 
on the fences, where they are perpetually seen flitting from stake to stake 
on the roadside before you. Wherever there is a tree or trees of the wild 
cherry, covered with ripe fruit, there you see them busy among the 
branches ; he is fond of the ripe berries of the sour gum, and pays pretty 
regular visits to the cherry trees when loaded with fruit. Towards fall, he 
often approaches the barn or farmhouse, and raps on the shingles and 
weatherboards; he is of a gay and frolicsome disposition, and half-a-dozen 
of the fraternity are frequently seen diving and vociferating around the 
high dead limbs of some large tree, pursuing and playing with each other, 
and amusing the passenger with their gambols.” He inhabits the whole of 
North America, passing the winter in the extreme south. 
There are two species found in western North America, which are 
related to the red-headed woodpecker, Lewis’s woodpecker (M. hi aes, 
and the red woodpecker (M. ruber). 
The other birds of this group are peculiar to Mexico and South America. 
Sub-fam. 6. Colaptine, or Ground Woodpeckers. Bill long, curved, 
broad at base, compressed; wings long ; tail rather long; tarsi short; toes 
long. Size rather large; colors green and yellow. 
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