THE WOODPECKERS. 131 



lakes, and mill-ponds, especially where a clayey or 

 gravelly bank rises to some height above the water's 

 edge ; here the male and female assist each other in 

 digging out a hole, running horizontally to the depth 

 of four or five feet, and about one or two feet below 

 the surface of the ground. This hole, which is just 

 large enough to admit the body of the bird, is widened 

 toward the extremity into an oven-shaped apartment, 

 of sufficient size to allow of the birds turning freely 

 about; here the nest, which is composed of a few 

 sticks and feathers, is placed. The female mostly 

 lays six pure white eggs, which she hatches in about 

 sixteen days, the male taking his turn with his mate 

 in the process of incubation. To this hole the same 

 pair will sometimes resort for many successive years. 

 We will now endeavor briefly to describe some of 

 the most prominent and familiar members of the in- 

 teresting, numerous, and widely spread family of the 

 Woodpeckers. With them commences the fourth 

 order, Scansores or Zygodactyli, the Climbers. If 

 we examine closely, we will find that the peculiarities 

 of conformation of this order are very marked, and 

 display in a wonderful degree the wisdom of the Crea- 

 tor in supplying His creatures with means precisely 

 adapted to their wants. The food of the Woodpecker 

 consists principally of insects and their eggs, which 

 are deposited beneath the bark of decayed trees. In 

 order to obtain these, it is gifted with a large, heavy 

 looking, hammer-shaped head, and rather a long, 

 sharp-pointed, and powerful bill, with which it strips 

 away the bark by repeated blows, until it has uncov- 



