158 BOMBAY DUCKS 



most birds ; this, also, is an adaptation to its scansorial 

 habits. 



Lastly, the bird's feet are admirably adapted to climb- 

 ing. Its claws enable it to cling without effort to the 

 smoothest bark. Some woodpeckers have four toes ; 

 our friend with the golden back has but three, nor does 

 the loss of one appear in any way to interfere with its 

 powers of locomotion. It can run up the stem of a 

 toddy palm as easily as a human being can walk across 

 the road. 



The woodpecker is a tree-trunk acrobat. The bird 

 adopts a unique method of progression ; it moves in a 

 series of jerks, just as a mechanical toy does, except 

 that the movements of a woodpecker are as silent as the 

 flight of a bat or an owl. Head, tail, and legs all work 

 together, and jerk the bird whither it listeth. It usually 

 progresses with its head pointing upwards, and can 

 move with equal ease upwards, downwards, sideways, 

 and in a straight line or spirally. The agility of the 

 bird baffles description. It moves as though there were 

 no such thing as gravity. 



For gymnastic prowess, a woodpecker I saw the other 

 day " fairly takes the cake." I was out one morning 

 after a night of heavy rain and beheld a woodpecker 

 disporting himself in the angle formed by the forked 

 trunk of an old tree. The bird was dancing up and 

 down like a jack-in-the-box, flirting his wings with each 

 movement. I turned my glasses on to him and saw 

 drops of water flying every time he shook his wings. 

 The bird was taking a bath in the water that had 

 collected in the hollow formed by the bifurcation of the 



