File:The genera of birds (18990403299).jpg

Order III. SCAXSORI.
Family III. Picnxs.
The fifth Subfamily,
MELANERPINiE, or Black Woodpeckers,
have the Bill more or less long, compressed, and the lateral ridge placed nearly half-way between the
culmen and lateral margins.
Centurus Swains.*
Bill more or less long, and rather slender, with the culmen gradually curved, and the sides compressed
to the tip, which is acute ; the lateral margins slightly curved, and the gonys long and angular ; the
nostrils basal, rounded, and the opening partly covered by projecting plumes. Wings long and pointed ;
with the first quill very short, and the fourth and fifth the longest. Tail rather long, and with the ends
of the feathers pointed. Tarsi short, and covered with transverse scales. Toes unequal ; the outer pair
the longest, and equal : the claws long, compressed, and acute.
It is in both North and South America that these birds are found singly on the decayed trees of the forests, and
occasionally in orchards or open fields. They are expert climbers, moving about the trunks and horizontal branches of
the trees with equal facility in all directions, searching for larvae and perfect insects. Their note is " choir," rapidly
repeated, and reminded Wilson of the barking of a little lapdog. They form their nests in the decayed or solid
trunks of trees ; the female deposits five eggs, and the young generally climb to the upper branches of the trees before
they are able to fly, and are there fed by the parents until they can provide for themselves.
1. C. carolinus (Linn.) PI. enl. (.92., WSs. Amer. Orn. pL ?• 1'. 6. C. eleganx Swains.
2. — Picus griseus Vieill. Ois. d'Ame'r. Sept. t. 1 1 6. ; P. erythrau- 7- C. subelcgans 'Pr. Bonap. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837- P- 10Q.
chen Wagl. ; Centurus carolinensis Swain*. ; P. zebra Bodd. Audub. 8. C. Santa Cruzi Pr. Bonap. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837. p. 1 16".
B. of Amer. pi. 415. f. 3. 9. C.flavifrons (Vieill.) Swains. Spix, Av. Bras. t. 25. f. 2
2. C. radiolatus (Wagl.) Edwards's Birds, pi. 244., PI. enl,
597.
3. C. striatus (Bodd.) PI. enl. 281. & f.14., Vieill. Ois. d'Ame'r
Sept.t. 14.
4. C. faviventris Swains. Two Cent, and a Quart, p. 354.
5. C. rubriventris Swains. Two Cent, and a Quart, p. 354.
Type of Tripsurus Swains. (1837).
10. C. hirundinaceus (Gme\.) PI. enl. f.94. f. 2. — P. rubrifrons
Spix, Av. Br. t. 55. f. 2.
11. C. rubrifrons Spix, Av. Br. t. 55. f. 1.
12. C. chlorolophos (Vieill.) X. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxvi. p. 78.

• Established by Mr. Swainson in 1837 (Class, of Birds, ii. p. 310.). It embraces Tripsurus of Mr. Swainson (1837)-