5 66 
PICARIAN BIRDS. 
face feathered, and are chiefly represented in the New World, the last-named genus 
being peculiar to the island of San Domingo. Verreauxia and Sasia, the other 
two genera of piculets, are Old World forms, the former being an inhabitant of the 
forest-district of West Africa, and the latter of the Indian region. The largest of 
the piculets does not exceed 5 inches in length, and many of them are not more than 
3 inches. 
Until recently these tiny woodpeckers ( Picumnus) were supposed 
Green icu e s. ^ p e p ecu ]j ar South America, which contains no less than thirty- 
two species, but in certain parts of the Indian region a similar green piculet is 
found, together with a second species in Southern China; and Mr. Hargitt has 
BRAZILIAN PICULET. 
come to the conclusion that these Oriental birds are absolutely of the same form as 
the South American ones; the resemblance being carried even to the pattern of 
the tail, which is peculiar among birds ; not only are the centre feathers half white, 
but the outer feathers are also for the most part white, and these characteristic 
markings run through the whole of the species, be they American or Oriental. 
Of the American species, although so numerous, scarcely any details of habits have 
been published, except that they seem to act the parts of tiny woodpeckers; but 
of the Indian species (P. innominatus ) a little more is known. Inhabitants of 
the Himalaya and the adjacent ranges, reoccurring in the the Wynaad and 
extending down the high mountains of the Burmese Provinces, the Malayan 
Peninsula, Sumatra, and Northern Borneo, these piculets nest in holes which they 
excavate themselves, laying as many as seven eggs, as Mr. Thomson says that he 
