WOODPECKEES. 



477 



zontally. Woodpeckers are of a timid and restless disposition ; 

 they live alone in the midst or on the borders of large forests. 

 Insects and their larvae form their nourishment ; there they seek 

 them in the trunks and clefts of trees. Their tongue is wonder- 

 fully suited to this work of exploration. It is very long, and, 

 by a peculiar mechanism, can be projected out far enough to 



Fig. 196. Black Woodpeckers (Picus (Dryocopus] martius, Gould). 

 1. Female. 2. Male. 



reach objects three or four inches away. The beak is termi- 

 nated by a horny point bristling with small hooks. In many 

 species it is overlaid with a sticky humour, secreted by two 

 voluminous glands, the effect of which is to catch the insects 

 which it touches. Whenever the bird darts this tongue into 

 the crevices, it draws it out more or less laden with insects. If it 

 perceives an insect that it cannot reach by means of this organ, it 



