NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 



9! 



are exceedingly sharp, so as to enable the bird to get a firm 

 hold on the roughness of the bark. The hind-claw is very small. 

 The two front claws are of unequal length, but the middle claw 

 is so situated as almost to turn at right angles with the leg, thus 

 preventing any chance of the bird slipping. 



FlO. B. FOOT OF WOODPEOKF,R. 



The tongue of the woodpecker, Fig. 0., however, is the most re- 

 markable piece of mechanism about his body. If the bill be opened, 

 and the tongue drawn out, it will be observed that it can be pro- 

 truded nearly four inches from the gape of the beak. It i s 



FlO. C. TONOCE OF WOonPECKER. 



almost cylindrical, and can be pushed back into a sheath, 

 which fits it, just as a pencil can be pushed back into a silver 

 pencil-case. This is very similar to the mechanism that we 

 find in the long worm-like tongue of the great ant-eater of 



