45 



#u t\t fntitljologg of Wilts. 



No. 11.— INSESSORES (Perchers). Continued from vii. 102. 

 Scansores ( dim bers ) . 



HIS is a small tribe, compared to the two previously described, 

 containing bat three families, the Woodpeckers, Creepers, 

 and Cuckoos; but it yields to none in point of interest, all its 

 members partaking of habits peculiar to the tribe, and being 

 sufficiently scarce in point of numbers, to attract attention whenever 

 they appear : they are essentially inhabitants of the trees, procuring 

 all their food from the insects which they find in the branches and 

 trunks, or from the berries and fruits thereon. Some of the families 

 in this tribe seldom touch the ground, and they are rarely to be 

 found elsewhere than in wooded districts : they are all more or 

 less eminent for their climbing and grasping powers, which are 

 developed in different degrees in the various genera. 



PICID^] (The Woodpeckers.) 



This family may well stand at the head of the climbers, for 

 nothing can exceed the admirable structure of their bodies, and 

 the formation of their legs, feet, tail, beak and tongue, all so 

 eminently adapted to their requirements ; the legs extremely short 

 and strong, giving the bird a good purchase on the trunk or branch 

 of the tree, into which it is about to dig with its powerful beak : 

 the toes long, two being directed backwards and two forwards (an 

 arrangement peculiar to the climbers, but which adds immensely 

 to its powers of grasping and climbing) and furnished with strong 

 curved claws, with which it can cling to the bark : the tail com- 

 posed of twelve stiff bristly feathers, with very strong shafts, 

 which serves the bird as a fulcrum or rest on which to support 

 itself, while bending back the head preparatory to a sharp ham- 

 mering with the beak; the beak straight, long, tapering, wedge-shaped 



