SOME HYOID HINTS. 131 



posing of them, in order to get the best re- 

 sults from them in controlling the tongue 

 movements. Does it not appear curious, how- 

 ever, when one comes to note that Colaptes 

 has its tongue-bones thrust into its nostril, 

 while those of Picus are curled around under 

 the eye to near the ear ? 



Although I had previously dissected many 

 woodpeckers, and had studied for years with 

 care their tongue-anatomy, it was not until 

 quite recently that I began to suspect that 

 another function than that of projecting the 

 tongue belonged to this peculiar specialization 

 of the hyoidean apparatus. 



During an out-door meeting of the Indiana 

 Academy of Science, I went into a dense wood 

 to kill a wood-thrush for dissection. While I 

 was watching for my bird a hairy woodpecker 

 came and lit near me on a small dead branch 

 of a beech tree, where it began to tap the 

 wood with its bill, meantime slowly hopping 

 backwards down the stem. It was not more 

 than eight feet from me, and while watching 

 it I saw that it would strike two or three 

 smart blows, and then appear to be listening, 

 with the tip of its bill resting against the 

 wood. This hearkening attitude was never 

 preserved for longer than the merest instant 

 of time, but its purpose could not be misun- 

 derstood. The bird was listening to hear any 

 movements made by worm or larvae within 

 the branch. The bill-taps were meant to 

 startle the victims and to make them move, 

 so that they could be heard. I became inter- 

 ested and watched closely until the bird suc- 

 cessfully located its prey, and by a few deft 

 chisel-strokes cut in and took it. When I re- 

 turned to where the Academy had assembled, 

 I told President David S. Jordan, the well- 

 known ichthyologist, that I believed I had 

 just made an interesting discovery, and su^- 



