WOODPECKERS, BAEBETS AND THEIK ALLIES 
{Picifoi'mes) 
This large order contains among others an interesting 
family with which we are not concerned, vh. the American 
toucans. Examples of three faJiiilics are known in Malaya, l>ut 
with the honey-g-uides Undicatondce) we are not concerned. 
They are soberly clad little birds: most of the species are 
African but one occasionally turns up in the Malay J^eninsula 
where it is, however* very rare. It is scarcely likely to occur in 
Singapore, 
All the members of the Piciformes have anatomical charac- 
ters in common, although supcrBcially rather different in 
appearance. The remaining^ two families, the woodpeckers* 
and the barbets, are so well represented in the Malayan region 
that we will deal with them separately. 
WOODPECKEBS 
(Pic idee) 
The woodpeckers are a large family of birds found in most 
temperate and tropical parts of the world, hut curiously enough 
not in Australia, Polynesia or Madagascar. 
About thirty species are known from the Malay Peninsula 
where they are g^enerically known as "hi:latok". 
hi their general appearance and in their habits wood- 
peckers display a somewhat unusual conformity to type; so 
much so, in fact, that we shall have but little to say of the 
various species under the Jieadiufif of "other habits". 
The typical woodpeckers may be recognised by their strong 
chisel-shaped bill, their stiff shafted and wedge-shaped tail and 
thdr long worm-like tongue. This tong:ue, which is rendered 
sticky by the supply of a fluid from salivary glands, is used for 
gathering up insects in the process of which it can be protruded 
for a considerable length. 
Normally the foot has four toes and is nicely adapted to 
the requirements of a climbing bird in that two toes are 
directed to the front and two to the rear. The usual method 
[15^] 
