WOODPECKER 



WOODPECKER 



WOODPECKERS 



Red-headed 

 Woodpecker 



California 

 Woodpecker 



Red-beflied 

 Woodpecker 



befell Laocoon to receive it within their walls. 

 They also took into the city Sinon, a Greek 

 slave, who had been left behind for that very 

 purpose. After nightfall Sinon released the im- 

 prisoned Greeks from the horse, and these in 

 turn opened the gates of the city to the Greek 

 soldiers, who had quietly returned. The city 

 was then easily captured and destroyed. 



Related Subjects. A fanciful, but current, 

 illustration showing how the Wooden Horse may 

 have appeared, will be found on page 5887. In 

 connection with this subject the reader should 

 consult the following articles in these volumes : 

 Helen of Troy Troy 



Laocotfn Ulysses 



WOOD 'PECKER, a bird of wooded areas, 

 found in all parts of the world except Aus- 

 tralia and Madagascar. Its toes are peculiarly 

 arranged, two forward and two backward, and 

 its tail feathers are stiffened in a manner which 

 adapts it to climbing the trunks of trees. It 

 has a stout, chisel-like bill with which it cuts 

 into the wood of trees in search of borers and 

 grubs, and a long, extensile tongue with a 

 horny tip, with which it spears the insect and 

 draws it out. Some species have the tongue 



coated with a sticky substance for the gather- 

 ing up of small insects, as ants. The birds feed 

 also on berries, fruits and nuts. 



Woodpeckers have harsh voices, and their 

 mating call is a rapid "drumming," performed 

 with the bill on a dead limb or piece of loose 

 bark. Their plumage is usually barred, or 

 spotted black and white, or brown and black, 

 and is marked about the head with red or yel- 

 low. They excavate cavities in the trunks of 

 trees for nests, depositing their glossy white 

 eggs on the fine chips at the bottom. They 

 are somewhat solitary, except in the fall, when 

 families go about together. 



Among the woodpeckers of North America 

 are the ivory-billed woodpecker, a wild, shy 

 bird of large size, with high, scarlet crest, found 

 in the cypress forests of the Southern United 

 States; the pileated woodpecker, a somewhat 

 smaller species of larger range, but, like the 

 ivory-billed, destructive to trees; the yellow- 

 bellied sapsucker (see SAPSUCKER) ; the flicker 

 (which see), familiarly seen about dwellings, 

 feeding on ants on the ground; the red-headed 

 woodpecker, with conspicuous plumage of red, 

 white and dark blue; the hairy woodpecker 



