Abstract
ALTHOUGH a tame woodpecker is mentioned by Aristotle, the birds of this family have never been favourites with aviarists, and even the London Zoological Society, after having exhibited at different tunes no less than seventeen species, had been without a specimen for years until a family of the British greater spotted species arrived recently, and were accommodated with a special cage in the Bird House. Here they attract attention by their extreme activity, which is very characteristic of woodpeckers; they contrast in this respect with their nearest allies the barbets, of which several species are on view, much as tits do with finches. It is of interest to note, however, that the pair-toed feet, often supposed to be an adaptation for climbing, are to be found in the more primitive group of barbets, which do not climb, and that these peck wood when excavating a nest-hole, although their beaks are not specialised into the chisel-type of the woodpeckers' bills, and they do not dig for food. Thus the woodpecking habit would seem to be older than the woodpecker; and that the pair-toed foot is not specially adapted for climbing is also shown in the fact that in several genera of woodpeckers the hallux or true hind-toe is absent or aborted, so that the foot ceases to be pair-toed.
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Habits of the Woodpecker. Nature 130, 504–505 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130504d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130504d0