188 SOME HYOID HINTS, 



years and over a wide scope of country, go 

 directly to the contrary. There are no hap- 

 pier, brighter, or more loving birds than our 

 woodpeckers. True they are noisy, restless, 

 bellicose, and self-assertive to a degree, but 

 what strong, healthy, wide-awake bird is not ? 

 Even Buffon, in giving the French phonetic 

 rendering of the green woodpecker's voice, 

 tio, tio, tio, contradicts himself, for that note 

 is by no means disagreeable to the ear, being 

 very like the quee-o, quee-o, quee-o of our 

 golden- wing and our red-head (Melanerpes) . 

 There is a martial fire and force in the vigor- 

 ous call of the ivory -billed woodpecker, and a 

 rather savage strain in the voice of the log- 

 cock, but both these great birds are bright, 

 happy, companion-loving, and far from evil- 

 disposed in any way. 



All the smaller woodpeckers have a rather 

 pleasing cackle, heard mostly in the spring, 

 varying from gip, gip, gip, through several 

 shades, to pip, pip, pip, uttered often with 

 ecstatic rapidity . Two or three species, nota- 

 bly the golden-wing and the red-head, repeat 

 the phrase, pee-to, pee-to, as they climb a tree 

 bole, or gallop through the air. Indeed in the 

 West and South a large part of the life and 

 cheer of the woods, fields, and orchards is due 

 to the activity and loquacity of the wood- 

 peckers, whose whisking wings and gay colors 

 constantly attract attention. 



But it was not of the vocal habit of the 

 woodpecker's tongue that I set myself to 

 write, pleasing as the task might be. 



If you will cast aside all prejudice, and 

 agree to forego the pleasure of putting your 

 tongue in your cheek and twirling your 

 thumbs in derision of my subject^ I will pro- 

 ceeds 



