211 
FAMILY XXVI.-PICIN^E. WOODPECKERS. 
Bill long or of moderate length, straight, stout, angulate, tapering, com- 
pressed toward the tip, which is generally wedge-shaped and abrupt ; man- 
dibles nearly equal, outline of the upper slightly convex, the ridge narrow, 
sides sloping, with a lateral ridge, edges straight; lower with the angle short 
and narrow, the dorsal line nearly straight, the ridge narrow, the sides with 
a faint ridge. Nostrils basal, elliptical or oblong, concealed by reversed 
bristly feathers. Head of moderate size, oblong ; neck of moderate length ; 
body stout. Legs short; tarsus short, moderately stout, anteriorly scutellate, 
scaly behind ; toes usually four, first short, rudimentary, or sometimes want- 
ing, fourth very long and reversed, equalling or exceeding the third. Claws 
large, strong, much curved, much compressed, very acute. Plumage soft, 
blended, rather compact on the back; wings of moderate length or long, with 
the first quill very small, the third, fourth, and fifth longest. Tail of mode- 
rate length, much rounded or cuneate, of twelve feathers, of which the lateral 
are extremely small, and placed above the next ; the rest, but especially the 
three middle pairs, with the shafts exceedingly large and strong, the webs 
narrowed toward the end, with their filaments deflected and stiff, the tip 
pointed or emarginate from being worn. Tongue slender, with the tip 
horny and furnished with reversed prickles or bristles, capable of being 
protruded to a great length by the elongation of the hyoid bones, which 
curve over the head to between the right eye and nostril, or even extend 
round a great part of that eye. (Esophagus of uniform width ; proventri- 
culus extremely large ; stomach of moderate size, or rather small, broadly 
elliptical or roundish, moderately muscular ; epithelium thin, dense, and 
longitudinally rugous ; intestine of moderate length, rather wide; no coeca ; 
cloaca very large, globular, or elliptical. Trachea simple, with a single pair 
of inferior laryngeal muscles. Nest, a cavity dug in a tree ; eggs from four 
to six, elliptical, white. 
The groups present characters which are so undecided, and exhibit such 
gradual approximations, that I think it better here to consider all our Wood- 
peckers as of one genus. 
