452 REPTILES AND BIRDS. 
the natural enemies of their family. The female deposits her 
eggs upon a bed of moss or the dust of worm-eaten wood. The 
young birds grow slowly, and receive for a long time the care of their 
parents. In general they have little voice, and that disagreeable. 
At breeding-time they frequently employ a mode of communicating 
with each other peculiar to themselves: they strike the trunks of 
dead trees with their beaks, and these blows, which are heard at 
a great distance, attract all 
the Woodpeckers of the 
neighbourhood. 
Woodpeckers are ge- 
nerally considered noxious 
birds, because they are sup- 
posed to injure the trees of 
forests and orchards, and 
for this reason a relentless 
war is made against them. 
They should, on the con- 
trary, be protected; for 
they destroy innumerable 
insects, the real enemies of 
timber, and never touch a 
sound limb, for in it their 
food is not to be found, 
There are a great number 
of species of Woodpeckers 
known, which are spread 
over the two continents: 
Europe possesses eight, 
Fig. 178.—Wry-necks. seven of which live in 
France either in a settled 
state or as birds of passage. The principal are the Ivory-billed 
Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis, Fig, 176), a native of America ; 
the great Spotted Woodpecker (Picus mazor); and the Downy Wood- 
pecker (Picus pubescens, Fig. 177). 
Wry-necks (Yunx torguilla, Fig. 178) owe their name to the 
curious property they possess of being able to twist their necks in 
such a manner as to turn the head in alldirections. They repeat this 
movement every instant, especially when surprised or angry. At the 
same time their eyes become fixed, the feathers of the head stand up, 
and the tail expands. Like Woodpeckers, they can hang upon 
trees, and sustain themselves in a vertical position for a long time ; 
