THE BIRDS 



229 



pecker (Spliyrapicus varius) is a real sapsucker, living on 

 the juices of trees. A close relative of the red-headed 

 woodpecker, the California woodpecker (Melanerpes formi- 

 civorus), is renowned for its habit of boring holes in bark 

 and inserting the acorns of the live oak. Subsequently the 

 bird returns, and breaking open the acorns, devours the 

 grubs which have infested them, and apparently eats the 

 acorns also. 



215. Swifts, humming-birds, etc. (Macrochires). The birds 

 of this order are rapid, skilful fliers, and their wings are 

 very long and pointed. The feet, on the other hand, are 



FIG. 127. Night-hawk (Chordeiles virginianus) on nest. Photograph by H. K. JOB. 



small, relatively feeble, and adapted for perching or cling- 

 ing. Accordingly, the insects upon which they feed are 

 taken during flight by means of their open beaks. The 

 night-hawk (Chordeiles virginianus), roosting lengthwise on 

 a branch by day, at nightfall takes to the wing, and high 

 in the air pursues its food after the fashion of a swallow. 

 In the same haunts throughout the United States the whip- 



