THE TONGUES OF BIRDS. 



1017 





other, the adaptive features of the tongue can still be accounted for. 

 So the fact that the houeycreepers eat berries and the honeysuckers 

 and sunbirds spiders and insects does not disprove the primary adap- 

 tation of their tongues for getting nectar. At the same time it is to 

 be noted that tubular and brushy tongues occur only ( ?) 

 in birds of tropical or subtropical regions, where flowers Jm 



are to be found throughout a great part of the year. m ^ 



The woodpeckers afifoKl a good illustration of the y ^ 

 modifications of the tongue according to the nature of f i| 

 the food, for in this group each variation iu the tongue 

 appears to be accompanied by a corresponding varia- 

 tion in the general character of the 

 food.' The flicker has fewer barbs 

 on its tongue than any other species; 

 also it has one of the longest tongues 

 and the largest salivary glands. Xow, 

 the flicker eats more ants than any 

 other species, these insects constitut- 

 ing about forty per cent of its food, 

 and it not only obtains them from the 

 surface of the ground but by probing 

 for them in anthills. The three-toed 

 woodpecker heads the list of eaters of 

 grubs, and this bird has, in addition 

 to a long and fairly well barbed 

 tongue, an nnusually good bill for 

 cutting into trees: in fact, it may be 

 said that the two go together, for 

 similar conditions are found in other 

 species. The little downy woodpecker comes next as 

 a destroyer of wood-boring larvii^, unless it should be 

 exceeded by the great pileated woodpecker, with its 

 powerful beak and sharp tongue. The sapsucker 

 seems to eat no boring grubs, but as an ant-eater it 

 stands next the flicker, the contents of its stomach 

 averaging thirty-six per cent of ants. It is, as its 

 popular name implies, a drinker of the sap of sweet 

 trees, and it also preys upon the flies and otherinsects 

 which are attracted by the exuding sap. The brushy 

 tongue (fig. 11) is well adapted for procuring such 

 articles in the bill of fare, but it is quite useless for extracting grubs from 

 their hiding places, being barbless and capable of but little extension. 

 The red-headed woodpeckers, although possessed of very extensile 

 tongues, have these organs rather feebly barbed, while they also have 





\\V\V liji'f/i» 

 Fig. 11. 



rig. 12. 



'Beal, F. E. L. Preliminary Report on the Food of Woodpeckers. < Bulletin 

 No. 7, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy. 



