BEAKS AND CLAWS. 



You slay them all ! and wherefore ? for the gain 

 Of a scant handful more or less of wheat, 



Or rye, or barley, or some other grain, 

 Scratched up at random by industrious feet, 



Searching for worm or weevil after rain ! 



Longfellow. 



Beaks and claws are more strikingly diversified than 

 any other parts of the body, because they are so closely 

 identified with the daily necessities of life. They are the 

 bird's best helpers his hands and feet; and it is not at 

 all unlikely that these parts alone can tell us a good deal 

 about bird- way s. 



Downy's beak is so sharp and chisel-like that, guided by 

 a sharp eye and active head, it soon digs a comfortable 

 home in the old dead limb. The hammering of the 

 Flicker in early spring is a most familiar sound. A 

 number of these birds frequented a group of large cot- 

 tonwood trees every year, where they regularly nested. 

 Early in the season they would be on hand, drumming 

 merrily on the dry limbs of the old trees and calling 

 loudly to their mates. These were familiar sounds in the 

 warm, bright days of April. No spring day in the woods 

 would be complete without the musical drumming of the 

 Woodpecker. 



What sort of a foot would be 

 needed for such a climbing, 

 pecking bird ? When linemen 

 who are sent out to repair tele- 

 graph lines need to climb to the 

 top of a tall pole, they buckle 



(12) 



