200 Birds Every Child Should Know 



He is quite a little larger than a robin, the larg- 

 est and the commonest of our five non-union 

 carpenters. 



See him feeding on the ground instead of on 

 the striped and mottled tree trunks, where his 

 black and white striped relatives are usually 

 found, and you will realise that he wears brown 

 clothes, finely barred, because they harmonise 

 so perfectly with the brown earth. What does 

 he find on the ground that keeps him there so 

 much of the time? Look at the spot he has 

 just flown from and you will doubtless find ants. 

 These are chiefly his diet. Three thousand 

 of them, for a single meal, he has been known 

 to lick out of a hill with his long, round, 

 extensile, sticky tongue. Evidently this lusty 

 fellow needs no tonic. His tail, which is 

 less rounded than his cousins', proves that 

 he has little need to prop himself against tree 

 trunks to pick out a dinner; and his curved 

 bill, which is more of a pickaxe than a hammer, 

 drill, or chisel, is little used as a carpenter's tool 

 except when a nest is to be dug out of soft, 

 decayed wood. Although he can beat a rolling 

 tattoo in the spring, he has a variety of call 

 notes for use the year through. Did you ever 

 see the funny fellow spread his tail and dance 

 when he goes courting? Flickers condescend 

 to use old holes deserted by their relatives who 

 possess better tools. You must have noticed 



