of the United Stales. 
43 
acute | margins entire : tongue extremely long, extensible, 
lumbriciform. Feet short, robust; tarsus annulated; fore 
toes united at base ; hind toes divided ; outer not versatile ; 
inner rarely wanting. Tail of from ten to twelve feathers. 
Reside chiefly in forests and orchards : climb upwards 
with great facility : feed on insects, especially such as lie 
concealed under the bark of trees ; obtain these by means of 
their tongue, which is acute and hard at tip, and covered by 
a glutinous secretion. Build in the cavities of trees ; breed 
once a year ; eggs 3 — 8 ; young taught to climb at first : not 
easily domesticated. 
6. PICUS. 
Picus , L. Briss . Gm. Lath. III. Cuv . Vieill. Temrn. Ranz. 
Picus , Picoides , Lacepede. 
Bill robust, straight, pyramidal-polyedral, cuneate at tip ; 
mandibles subequal, upper rather longer : nostrils basal, 
oval, open, partly covered by setaceous incumbent feathers : 
tongue mucronate at tip, with retrorse bristles. Inner hind 
toe shortest, rarely rudimentary or wanting ; nails arcuated, 
acute. Wings moderate; spurious feather short; third and 
fourth primaries longest. Tail cuneiform, of twelve feathers, 
very rigid and acute ; outer feather very short, sometimes 
obsolete or totally wanting. 
Female resembling the male, though easily distinguished. 
Young sometimes very different. 
Live in woods ; solitary, timid, and laborious : smaller 
American species far less shy than those of Europe. Climb 
with admirable agility on the trunks of trees, their sharp nails 
enabling them to adhere to the bark, and the rigid tail serving 
for a support : seldom walk on the ground or stand on the 
branches of trees. Excavate dead trees, but seldom living ones. 
Hearing acute, directing them to the position of their prey be- 
neath the bark, consisting principally of larvae which they ex- 
tract by cutting through the bark with repeated blows of the 
bill producing a stridulous sound, startling in the silence of 
