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PICiE. 
GENUS 22. 
picus.— woodpecker. 
The following are the characters be- 
longing to this genus. 
Bill; angular, straight, wedged at the 
tip. 
Nostrils; covered with recumbent se- 
taceous feathers. 
Tongue; round, worm-shaped, very 
long, bony, missile, daggered, beset at 
the point with bristles bent back. 
Tail-feathers; ten, hard, rigid, pointed. 
Feet; Climbers. 
Gmelin enumerates fifty-eight species, 
besides varieties, belonging to this genus. 
Of this number only three are natives 
of the British Isles, and two other species 
occasional visitors. 
Their characters are striking, and their 
manners are singular; but, as their habits, 
mode of nidification, and formation of the 
