Woodpeckers WESTERN BIRDS 



The thing which enables these birds to bore into the 

 trees — sometimes to the depth of four inches in the 

 larger species — is the construction of the head. Their 

 bills are very large and strong and are supplied with 

 chisel-shaped points which form an effectual wood-cut- 

 ting tool which enables some of them to tear off large 

 pieces of rotten wood. 



Probably the most powerful thing about them is the 

 tongue, which is more or less cylindrical in form and 

 very long. At the end there is a hard point with more, 

 or less, barbs upon the side. It is extended in two long 

 slender filaments of the hyoid bone which curl up around 

 the back of the skull, and in most species stop between 

 the eyes, but in some others enter the right nasal opening 

 and extend to the end of the beak, thus making the 

 tongue twice the length of the head. This organ is 

 enclosed, at the back of the head, in a muscular sheath 

 by means of which it can be extended from the mouth 

 to some distance beyond the end of the beak, enabling 

 the bird, not to stick in his thumb and pull out a plum 

 as did Jack Horner, but to stick in his tongue and pull 

 out a grub, a titbit as eagerly sought for by the birds as 

 was the plum by the willful boy. 



They have a way of tap, tap, tapping, as they go up 

 the tree, and after a number of taps, in some way, 

 whether by the difference in the sound of the tap, or by 

 the feeling of the wood, they detect that an insect borer 

 is beneath. Then, propping itself against the tree by the 

 aid of the stiff tail, the bird drives its bill into the wood. 

 The manner of so doing is to bend the head until it is 

 at right angles with the body, then, with the latter rigid, 

 to lift the whole body up, then down, driving the bill 

 against the desired object with great force. The skull 

 is stout and can resist this constant pounding which in 

 another species would produce concussion of the brain. 



When on the wing the Woodpeckers may be identified 



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