PICIN^. PICUS. 
219 
sometimes wanting ; claws large, well arched, compressed, 
laterally grooved, very acute. Wings large, rounded ; 
tail cuneate, of twelve feathers, the lateral very small, the 
rest with very strong shafts, and stiff deflected filaments. 
The genera differ little from each other, either in form 
or in habits. All the species live chiefly on larvae and 
insects which they obtain by digging into the hark and 
wood of decayed trees. They also eat ants, berries, and 
various soft fruits. 
GENUS LXXIII. PICUS. WOODPECKER. 
Bill rather long, stout, conical, pentagonal, straight, la- 
terally bevelled at the tip so as to present an edged, abrupt, 
wedge- like termination ; upper mandible with the dorsal line 
declinate and straight, the ridge sharp, the sides with a lon- 
gitudinal elevated line remote from the ridge ; the tip trun- 
cate ; lower mandible with the ridge sharp and almost 
straight, the tip truncate. Mouth of moderate width ; tongue 
vermiform, terminated by a narrow, flat, horny point, which 
is ciliated with short reversed bristles ; oesophagus of mode- 
rate width ; proventriculus very wide ; stomach roundish, a 
little compressed, its muscular coat rather thin, its epithelium 
dense ; intestine of moderate length, rather wide ; no coeca. 
Nostrils elliptical or oblong, concealed by reversed bristly 
feathers. Eyes of moderate size. Head oblong ; neck of 
ordinary length ; body rather slender. Feet very short ; 
first toe very short ; second of moderate length, and united 
at the base to the third ; fourth long, and directed back- 
wards ; claws very large, curved, acute. Wings large, with 
nineteen quills, the first very small, the fourth and fifth 
longest ; tail rounded or wedge-shaped, with the shafts very 
strong, the terminal filaments stiff and deflected. 
141. Pious martius. Great Black Woodpecker. 
Plumage brownish-black ; the male with the upper part of 
the head, the female with only the occiput, crimson. 
Male, 19, . . , 9^, 2j\, 1. Female, 18J. 
This species has been met with in England only in a few 
