File:The genera of birds (19180090561).jpg

Order III. SCANSORES.
The third Family,
PICIDiE, or Woodpeckers,
have the Bill generally lengthened, acute, and straight, with the base more or less broad, and the sides
much compressed towards the tip, which is usually obtuse.
The first Subfamily,
CAPITONINiE, or Barbets,
have the Bill large, broad at the base, usually furnished with bristles, and compressed towards the tip ;
the Tail generally short, even, and the feathers rounded at the ends.
Laimodon.*
Bill large, elevated, and broad at the base, with the culmen arched, and the sides compressed towards
the tip, which is acute ; the lateral margins strongly and irregularly dentated ; the nostrils basal, lateral,
and concealed, and the base of both mandibles furnished with long bristles. Wings moderate, with the
third to the sixth quills nearly equal and longest. Tail moderate and even. Tarsi as long as the outer
toe, and covered in front with broad scales. Toes unequal, the outer pair equal, and the two anterior
ones united to the first joint ; the claws short, compressed, and curved.
These species inhabit the forests of Africa, where they are usually observed in pairs, living on insects and fruits.
They select a hole of a rotten tree in which the female generally deposits her eggs on the bare wood. On quitting the
nest the young form a small band with the parents, and all live together in perfect harmony, until they in their turn
separate in couples. These birds are so devoid of fear that it is easy to find their nest, it being only necessary to follow
the little band towards evening to the hole where they reside, and to which they always retii'e to pass the night. They
sometimes take possession of one of the cells of the large nests of the weavers, which budd in society.
1. L. dubius (Gmel.) PI. enl. 602., Le Vaill. Barb. t. 10
Pogonius sulcirostris Leach, Zool. Misc. pi. 76. ; Pogonia erythro-
melas Vieill. Gal. des Ois. t. 32.
2. L. bidentatus (Shaw), Nat. Misc. pi. 393. — Pogonius laevi-
rostris Leach, Zool. Misc. pi. 77., Le Vaill. Barb. t. Suppl. K. ;
Bucco leuconotus Vieill. ; P. Levaillantii Leach, Zool. Misc. pi.
117-, Le Vaill. Barb. t. Suppl. A.
3. L. niyrothorax (Cuv.) Le Vaill. Barb. t. 28 Pogonias per-
sonalis Temm. PI. col. 201.
4. L. Saltii (Stanl.) Salt's Trav. App. xliv. liv., Lath. Hist, of B.
iii. pi. 53. — Pogonias rubrifrons Swains. Zool. 111. pi. 68. ; P. ha?-
matops Wayl. ; Loxia abyssinica Gmel. ? ; Hyreus abyssinicus
Steph. ? ; Phytotoma tridactyla Daud. ; Pogonias Brucei Riipp.
Faun. Abyss, t. 20. f. 1.

• This genus was originally established by Illiger (1811) under the name of Pogonias, which was employed as Poyonia by Vieillot
  

(1816), and Pogonius by Leach (1816); but, these names having been previously employed, the above appellation was proposed by me