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Show 328 AVES. always has a metallic lustre. They are solitary birds, that live in wet forests, feed on insects, and build on low branches. The American species have a longer and perfectly straight beak.(1) There are some species in the Archipelago of India, whose shorter, stouter and slightly arcuated beak approximates them to the Bee-eaters. Their anterior toes are more separate. They constitute the JAoAMEROPS of Vaillant,(2) who even gim a figure of one that has no ridge above.(3) Finally, there are others-the Jacamar-.!llcyon, which have only three toes. They inhabit Brazil.( 4) Prcus, Lin.( 5) The Woodpeckers are well characterized by their long, straigh4 angular beak, the end of which is compressed into a wedge, and fitted for splitting the bark of trees; by their slender tongue, armed near the tip with spines that curve backwards, which by the action of the elastic horns of .the hyoid bone, can be thrust far out of the beak, and by their t'ail~ composed of ten quills( 6) with stiff and elastic stems, which acts as a prop in supporting them while they are climbing. They are Climbers par excellence: they wander over trees in every direction, striking the bark with their beaks, and in· sinuating their long tongue into its cracks and crevices to obtain the larv::e of insects, on w llich they feed. This tongue, besides its armour, is constantly covered with a viscid fluid, secreted by large salivary glands: it is drawn back into the beak by two muscles, which are wound round the trachea like ribands; in this state ofre· traction, the horns of the hyoid ascend under the skin and round the head, as far as the superior base of the beak, and the sheath of t~e tongue is doubled into folds in the bottom of the throat. Thetr ( 1) .lllcedo paradisrea ( Galbula paradisrea, Lath.), Enl. 271 ;-.B.lcedo galhula, L. ( Galb. 'Viridis, Lath.) Enl. 238;-Galb. ruficauda, Nob. Vaill. Ois. de Par: &c.'~' pl. I; or G. macroura, Vieill. Gal. 29;-Galb. albirostris, Lath. Vaill. pl. h; Vl · Ois. Dor. I, pl. iv;-Galb. albiventris, Vaill. xlvi. (2) .lllcedo grandis, Gm.; Galbula grandis, Lath. Vaill. pl.liv. (3) The Grand Jacamar, Vaill. I, cit. pl. liii. (]ol. Jacamaciri is the Brazilian name of these birds, according to Marcgrav~· h bula, among the Latins, appears to have indicated the Oriole, it was :Mcebring VI 0 transferred it to the Jacamars. (4) Vaill. Jac. Sup. f. 1, and Spix, 57, 2, by the name of JJ.lcyon tridactyla., ( 5) Picus, the Latin name for these birds, given to them, it is said, by a king La.ti.um. (6) Strictly speaking, there are twelve; but the lateral ones, which are small, are not counted. SCANSORIJE. 329 stoma~h is nearly membranous, and they have no creca, still they also eat fruit. Fearful an.d wary, they pass most of th e·i r ti· me m· a soli. - tary manner, b•u t durm• g the nuptial season the Y may f requently be beard summomng the1r females by loud and rap'd t · . I appmg on a dry branch. They build once a year in holes of trees ' an d eac h sex alter-nately broods .u po. n the eggs until they are hatched • Th ere are S·I X or seven species m Europe. P. martius, L.; Grand Pic noir'· Enl · 596 ,. N aum. 131. ( The Gre. at Black Woodpecker.) Almost as 1a rge as a c row, and ent1rely black; a beautiful red forms a calotte in the male, but a mere spot on the occiput in the female • It pre1r ers t h e pm· e forests of the North. P. viridis; Pic vert; Enl. 371; Naum. 132. (The Green Woodpecker.) Size of a turtle-dove; green above; whitish ben~ ath; the calotte red; rump, yellow; one of the most beautiful b1rds of Eu~ope. The young are marked with black spots beneath, and With w?ite ones on the mantle. It prefers inhabiting the woodland plams, and is partial to the beech and elm. It also seeks food on the ground. P. . canus, Gm.; Edw. 65·, Naum · 133 • A speci· es c 1o se1 y alhed to the preceding, but smaller, more of an ash colour the beak more slender, and with a black moustache. The on]; red about the male is on the top of the head, and there is none on the f~male. It is not found far t<> the south, and is more rarely seen m F~ance than the preceding, of whose habits it partakes. Its favourite food consists of ants. P· maJ.o r; L'Ep ez'ch e; En!. 196, the male, 59 s, the female; Naum. 134 •. (T~e Great Spotted Woodpecker.) Size of a Thrush, v~r1ed With black and white above; black back and rump; wh1te beneath; red about the vent; a spot of the same c?lou.r on the occiput of the male. The calotte of the younoo :Ird ls almost wholly red; it prefers evergreen trees, frequent!; pproach~s our dwellings, but never lights on the ground. , P. medzus; Moyen Epeiche; Enl. 611; Naum. 136, f. 1 and 2. Somewhat less; the whole calotte red in both sexes· rump black·' under par t of t h e ta1'] , re dd1' sh. Inhabits tempe'r ate and' southern Europe. TP. mi~or; Petit Epeiche; Enl. 598; Naum. 136, f. 2 and 3. ( he Little Spotted Woodpecker.) Size of a Finch· variegated with black and white above; greyish-white beneatl~ • some red on the head of the male only. From the north and ~iddle Nof Europe • It I· s asserte d t h at I. t searches for ants on foot· but aumann assures us that such is not the fact. ' P. leuconotoa, Bechst.; N aum. 135. A spotted Woodpecker VoL. I.-2 R |
