172 
Birds of Celebes : Picidae. 
d.ifF6r from tlie Swifts, tli6 Hornbills from tliG Hiimming-birds as greatly as do 
the Accipitres from the Parrots or the Passeres from the Pigeons. In the 
“Catalogue of Birds”, the sections of the Picariae are titled Suborders ; in the 
Fauna of British India, Birds” vol. Ill, Mr. Blanford prefers to treat them as 
Orders. We have employed the latter term for this work. The Pici are 
represented by the single 
FAMILY PICIDAE. 
Woodpeckers in life attract attention chiefly hy their habit of clinging and 
climbing on the stems and branches of trees, pecking away the bark and wood, 
often making thereby a loud hammering, in search of the insects and their 
larvae on which they feed, or in forming the cavities in which they may even- 
tually breed. The eggs laid therein are glossy white ; the young in first plumage 
are known sometimes to resemble the male, when the sexes differ in adult 
plumage. The birds have no song, properly so called, though in the breeding- 
season they may utter peculiar notes. The well-known “drumming” made at 
this season by some species is caused by the bird striking a dead branch and 
then suffering the vibrating wood to beat against the tip of the bill. The flight 
is weak and undulating. In size the Woodpeckers vary from the dimensions 
of a Wren to those of a Crow; the most common colours are green, black, 
white, ochraceous, red, and yellow; pure blue is, we believe, absent. 
A Woodpecker has a zygodactyle foot — the outer (fourth) toe being 
reversed, a character which at once distinguishes it from certain Passeres, such 
as the Nuthatches, Tree-creepers and Tits, which share to some extent its habits; 
the claws are curved to a semicircle (circa), are very narrow and deep. The 
bill is strong, straight, or nearly so, often sharpened laterally at the tip to a 
chisel-like point; the “tongue is very long, worm-like, provided with a pointed 
horny barbed tip, capable of great protrusion , the hyoid cornua extending 
backwards over the skull (except in Sphyropicus and 'KenopicusY’ (Hargitt, Cat. 
B. XVIII, 2); the occipital foramen appears to be placed well under the skull; 
the skin of the neck fits closely, so that in skinning the skull often cannot he 
passed through it; the keel of the sternum is low, the manubrium is furnished 
posteriorly with two processes on either side. There are twelve tail-feathers, 
which in the true Woodpeckers are stiffened and spiny, and used to support 
the body in clinging and climbing; in the Piculets (Picumninae) and Wrynecks 
(lynginae) the tail-feathers are soft and ordinary, and these forms are distinguished 
as Subfamilies. For further particulars see Marshall, “Spechte”, 1889; 
Hargitt 1. c., Blanford 1. c., and others. 
