COLAPTES. MEIiANERPES. 
135 
genus ; but the anterior toe is now become obviously 
longer than the hind toe : the crest is long, formed of 
loose feathers, and, like the rest of the plumage, is 
particularly soft ; hence we have denominated the genus 
Malacolophux. The fourth genus we long ago named 
Colaptes, and as this has been generally adopted by 
ornithologists, we need only here observe, that it is 
distinguished from the last by the greater curvature 
and compression of the bill, and by the disappearance 
of the ridge on the upper mandible ; thus assimilating 
the group to the Tenuirostres, and exhibiting the 
weakest structure among the whole of the woodpeckers. 
The fifth and last genus (Melanerpes) may not un- 
aptly be called swallow woodpeckers, for they resemble 
those birds in their migratory habits, their long wings, 
and their black glossy plumage, destitute, in the typical 
examples, of spots or bauds : yet here we find nature 
has began to return once more to her original type: the 
ridge on the bill is again apparent, at first but slightly, 
but finally very distinct ; this member, likewise, al- 
though not straight, is less arched than in Colaptes ; 
the two greater toes are of equal length ; the wings long 
and pointed, and the third quiU equal or longer than 
the fourtli; the black and white plumage, seen only 
in the typical genus Picus, is again assumed, until the 
two groups are blended together by such birds as Piotts 
^*vhTiventvis Vieil., 2*. ouTius L. &c. j so that the circle 
of the true woodpeckers is rendered more complete, 
perhaps, than any other in the whole class of birds. 
The primary divisions thus appear to be three : the 
first having the bill equally angulated, and the hinder 
toe longest ; the second, with the angles unequal, and 
the two longest toes of the same length ; the third has 
the culmen curved, the angle obsolete or wanting, and 
the hinder toe shortest. Very many of the subgenera 
of these five principal forms have been determined, 
and their chief characters will be found in our system- 
atic arrangement. 
(151.) To theBuceoiiKB, or barbuts, forming the second 
K 4 
