THE ENGLISH 8PA1U1OW ANT) ITS ALLIES 301 



The woodpeckers include for the most part arboreal 

 birds which feed chiefly on insects and have loud, harsh 

 cries. The common idea that they are sap-suckers and 

 destructive to trees seems to be true only of one of our 

 species the yellow- 

 bellied woodpecker. 

 The heavy, long bill 

 enables woodpeckers 

 to peck holes in trees 

 for wood-eating in- 

 sects, and the long, 

 barbed, protrusible 

 tongue aids in remov- 

 ing the prey. Our 

 commonest woodpeck- 

 ers are the golden- 

 winged woodpecker, or 

 flicker, 1 the red-headed 

 woodpecker, the hairy 

 woodpecker, and the 

 d o w n y woodpecker. 

 An interesting ques- 

 tion concerning the 

 golden -winged wood- 

 peckers of the East and 

 Southwest is whether 

 they hybridize where 

 their areas of distribution overlap. 



The Cypselomorphae include the humming-birds, swifts, 

 and goat-suckers. The humming-birds are mostly small 

 species, limited to our hemisphere, and characteristic of 



Fi(i. 28(i. --Flicker 



auratns). 



Fig. 286. 



