XV 



HOW EACH WOODPECKER IS FITTED FOR HIS 

 OWN KIND OF LIFE 



We have studied the woodpeckers at some 

 length : first, what all of them do ; next, what 

 some that are peculiar in their ways do ; lastly, 

 how each is fitted for a particular kind of life. 

 At first we were inclined to think they were all 

 alike ; but now we begin to see that there are 

 very real differences between them, — in tails, 

 feet, bills, and tongues, and at the same time in 

 their food and habits. 



The flicker's tail is less sharply curved than 

 that of any other woodpecker, — a sign that he 

 is probably not exclusively a tree-dweller ; his 

 bill is curved and rounded, a pickaxe rather than 

 a drill, — an indication that he does not dig for 

 grubs ; his feet do not tell us much ; but his 

 long extensile tongue shows that, whatever he 

 feeds upon, he seeks it in holes. We find a 

 tongue like this in no other bird, but among 

 mammals the aard-vark, the ant-bear, and the 

 pangolins are all similarly equipped, and all live 



