46 BIRD WORLD. 



about this Woodpecker Family. The FHckers, for 

 instance, bring up their babies on a strange diet and 

 feed them in a remarkable way. First, the^ eat the 

 food themselves and prepare it in the stomach for the 

 tender stomachs of the little ones. Then, when they 

 see the wide-yawning beaks of their little nestlings, 

 they put their own far down inside them and pump 

 up the soft food from their own stomachs to give it to 

 their little ones. 



None of the woodpeckers, as I have said before, 

 are sociable birds. They do not feed in flocks, though 

 the Flickers do get together a little, and the little 

 Downy is often found in winter with a company of 

 Chickadees, or other small winter birds. 



Many of the larger woodpeckers are downright 

 savages, preferring the wild forests, keeping far from 

 men, and when caught, giving fierce blows with their 

 powerful bills, and refusing to be tamed. 



A famous lover of American birds, Alexander Wil- 

 son, caught a southern woodpecker once, called, from 

 his pure white bill, the Ivory-billed. He took it home, 

 and as he went through the streets, the constant cries 

 of the bird made people stop and stare at him. He 

 left it in his room, but when he returned, after an 

 hour, the brave bird had nearly cut a hole through the 

 window-sash, and would in a few minutes have escaped 

 from his prison. Wilson then tied the bird to his 



