Order III. SCANSORES. 
Family III. Pioidje. 
The sixth Subfamily, 
COLAPTINjE, or Ground Woodpeckers, 
have the Bill broad at the base, and the sides compressed to the end, with the culmen much curved to 
the tip, which is acute ; the sides of the upper mandible sloping, and the lateral ndge scarcely visible or 
entirely wanting. 
Colaptes Swains .* 
BUI Iona rather slender, broad at the base, and narrowed towards the end, with the culmen elevated 
at the base’ and curved to the tip, which is rather acute; the lateral margins slightly curved, and the 
:: : ** — ^ *> «* - - *■ ^ — t ; , the 
covered by the projecting plumes. Win 9 e long, -*^^**“* _ 
li.lvUi ' ' tj O' , _ 
longest. Tail rather long, graduated, and the ends of the feathers narrowed and rigid Tars, shrub 
robust, and covered with broad scales. Toes unequal ; the outer anterior toe longer than the 
posterior one: the claws moderate, compressed, and acute. 
These bird, are found in North and South America, the Islands of the West Indies, and South Africa. The, are 
bulk thcnnestso , ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ as seeds and grams Their 
flthUs'strono- and prolonged, propelling themselves by numerous beats of the wings, with short intervals of sa, mg, 
flight is stron 0 ana 1 b ’ V l The nature 0 f their chief food causes them to migrate from place 
daring which t ey gourf, The eggs, which are usual,, sin in number, are 
li” holes of tree’s, on the chips and dust of the wood. The young soon leave the nest, and arc out, cod b, the 
parents to the higher branches, and there fed by them. 
Wils. Amer. Orn. 
mexicanus 
1. c. auratus (Linn.) Swains. PI. enl. 693., 
pi. 3. f. 1., Audub. B. of Amer. pi. 37- 
2. C. brasiliensis Swains. 
3. C .rubricate (Licht.) Pr. Bonap. - Colaptes 
Swains.; C. collaris Vigors, Beechey's Voy. Zool. pi. 19-, Audub. 
B. of Amer. pi. 4l6. f. 5. 
4. C. pitiguus (Mol.) — Picus chilensis Less. Voy. de la Coqu. 
t. 32. : P. cuculinus Licht. . 
5. C. Fernandince Vigors, Zool. Journ. m. p. a., oy. 
Cuba, Ois. t. 24. 
6. C. superciliosus Vigors, Zool. Journ. iii. p. 445., Voy. Pile de 
Cuba, Ois. t. 23. (var. alba). 
7 C. mexican Hides Lafr. Kev. Zool. 1844. p. 42. 
8. C. elegans Fr. Proc. Z. S. 1840. p. 60. — Picus Rivoli Boiss. 
q. C. Ayresii Audub. B. of Amer. 2. edit. pi. 494. 
10 C. rupicola D’Orb. Voy. dans l’Amer. Mer. Ois. t. G2.f. 1. 
11. C. olivaceus (Latli.) Steph. Le Vaill. Ois. d’Afr. t. 254. — 
Picus arator Cuv. ; Geocolaptes terrestris Burch. ; Type of Geoco- 
laptes Burch. (1831). 
. „ t ■■■ „ ,n \ It embraces Geocolaptes of I)r, Burchell. 
* Established by Mr. Swainson in 1827 {Zool. Journ. m. p. 353.). 
