A FAMILY OF BACKWOODSMEN. 43 



The woodpecker builds his house with his bill, 

 just as Abraham Lincoln's father cut the logs for 

 his house with his sharp axe. Besides this very 

 important work, the woodpecker's bill is used in 

 away that is even more necessary. By its help he 

 finds food for himself, his wife, and his children. 



\Mien we hear him tapping at the dead limb, he is 

 searching for insects, grubs, and beetles, that live in 

 the decayed wood ; he bores into the wood till he 

 reaches them, but then his bill cannot open wide 

 enough in the small hole to seize the grub. What 

 shall he do .^ He has not gone as far as this to lose 

 his prize. 



His tongue is as well suited for seizing the insect 

 as his bill was for finding it. It is 

 like a whaler's harpoon, and though 

 he keeps it in his bill he can dart it Tongue of woodpecker. 

 out to twice the leno-th of the bill ; 

 and not only is it barbed to seize the grub, but it is 

 coated with slime so that anv little flies or eo:Q:s will 

 be sure to stick to it. Thus, when he has found his 

 dinner he darts out his tongue, strikes it into the 

 unlucky grub, and the next moment has despatched 

 that, and thrust it out for another. 



