XCVl 
INTRODUCTION. 
arc enumerated in the usefnl ‘ Hand-list of Birds ’ of the late Mr. G. R. Gray, of the British Museum. As 
might naturally he supposed, much diversity of form exists among the members of so vast a body of birds, 
each form being especially adapted to some given purpose or locality, tbe boles and leafy foliage of trees, 
rocky parched plains and bumid grassy meadows being alike resorted to by one or other of them. They are 
all zygodactyle in the form of their feet, altbough, in some cases, only a rudiment of one of the hind toes is 
found to exist. So far as my knowledge extends, they one and all deposit their beautiful shining white eggs 
in the boles of trees ; but I think it probable that some few may occasionally place theirs in crevices of 
rocks. Their principal food consists of insects and their larvae ; the ground-frequenting species consume 
ants and their eggs in great numbers ; and fruits and berries are not rejected by others. The species 
inhabiting Europe are about ten in number, four of which are represented in the present work ; and I here 
subjoin notices of the occurrence of two or three other accidental visitors from America. 
Subfamily PlClNiE. 
Genus Pic us. 
Members of this truly arboreal form are found both in the Old and in the New MTirld. They feed almost 
exclusively on insects and their larvae, but probably partake of spiders also, which they search for and extract 
from the bark of trees. 
204. Picus MAJOR ............ Vol. III. PI. LXX. 
Great Spotted Woodpecker. 
A resident species. Common in England, but more rarely met with in Scotland and Ireland. 
205. Picus leuconotus ........... Vol. III. PI. LXXI. 
White-b.acked Woodpecker. 
An accidental visitor to the Hebrides. 
206. Picus MINOR Vol. III. PI. LXXIL 
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. 
A resident species in England, e.xtremely rare, if at all to he found, in Scotland, and never occurs in 
Ireland. 
The late Mr. Briggs, of Cookham, in Berkshire, who was a close observer of nature, and especially of our 
native birds, informed me just prior to his death that he had witnessed many curious actions and disjdays 
performed by this species while flitting and hovering Avitb outspread wings around the leafy branches and 
