The Hijlory (^ANIMALS. 397 
which is therefore the extent of the meafure of the tail; all the feathers, except the 
two inconfiderable exterior ones, are acute, rigid, and bent inwards; the provision of 
nature is very remarkable in this, for, while the bird runs up trees, or fuftains itfelf 
on the furface of the trunk, as is frequently neceflary in it’s feeking it’s food, thefe 
feathers fuftain a great part of the weight of the body, relieving the feet, and giving 
it more opportunity of moving the anterior part of it’s body without falling. 
The legs in this fpecies are robuft, but fhort ; they are covered with feathers on the 
anterior part, half-way down below the knee, but on the hinder part they are not 
covered below that joint j they are of a deep bluifh-black: the toes are moderately 
long, and (land two before, and two behind ; the claws are large, ftrong, and {harp, 
only that of the leffer of the two hinder toes is very inconfiderable. 
The tongue of this bird, when extended to the utmoft, is very long, and it is ca¬ 
pable of a very fwift motion of lengthening and retradtion at pleafure. 
This fpecies is very frequent in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and other of the 
northern parts of Europe, but it has not been met with, that I know of, in England : 
all the writers on birds have defcribed it. Gefner calls it Picus maximus vel niger 5 
Aldrovand, Picus maximus; Willughby, Picus niger maximus; and others, by the 
fame or fimilar names. It feeds on the cofti or hexapode worms, hatched from the 
eggs of beetles; and, as many kinds of thefe are lodged on the decayed trunks of 
trees, it is moft ufually feen about them : it makes a loud and difagreeable noife, ufu- 
ally, when on the wing. 
Picus viridis vertice coccineo . 
The green Picus y with a fcarlet crown. 
30 )t steen 
QEJootrpecfter. 
This is an extreamly beautiful fpecies, but it is fmaller than the former; 
it’s weight is about three ounces; it’s body is about the fize of that of a lark : the head 
is moderately large, and is very much deprefled on the crown ; the eyes are bright and 
piercing, and of a lingular ftru&ure : the pupil is large and black, and it is furrounded 
by a double circle, in the place of an iris: the interior circle is of a brownifh- 
red, and the outer one is white : the tongue is very long, when thruft out to it’s full 
extent, and is of a bony hardnefs, and very {harp at the point; it ufes this to transfix 
the infedts, on which it is about to feed. 
The head is of a beautiful bright red colour, variegated with fmall and irregular 
fpots of black; and on the lower part of each chap there is alfo a fine red fpot: the 
throat, the breaft, and the belly are of a beautiful pale green; the back, the upper 
part of the neck, and the covering feathers of the wings, are of a much deeper and 
more elegant green : the rump is yellow, very pale, and approaching to what we call 
flraw colour; the under part of the tail is variegated with tranfverle lines of a deep 
brown. 
The long feathers in each wing are twenty, though the firft is fo fmall, that it is 
an eafy miftake to count but nineteen; and thofe neareft the body have only one fide 
green, and the other of a dulky brown, variegated with fpots of white, of a femi- 
circular figure; fome of the outer ones have alfo the fame variegations, and the 
fhort feathers which cover the roots of the long ones, on the underfide of the wing, 
are of a whitifh-green, and variegated with tranfverfe fpots of brown. 
The tail is about four fingers breadth long, and is compofed of ten feathers; they 
are rigid and ftiff, and are turned inwards at the points, where they feem forked ; this 
is owing to the fcapus of the feather not being continued, as is ufually the cafe, quite 
to the extremity : the two middle ones, and fometimes two or three of a fide next 
thdm, have their ends tipped with black ; the reft of the feathers is variegated on the 
upper furface, with fpots of a greyifti-white, and on the under with white. 
5 I 
The 
