58 THE WOODPECKER AND THE COPPERSMITH. 



a tree, like the other fowls of the air, but runs up the 

 trunk and boughs like a squirrel, clinging with its 

 strong claws and propping itself up with its short, stiff 

 tail. Its head, set crosswise on the thin, supple neck, 

 looks like the hammer of a gun, and it stops at 

 intervals to hammer fiercely at the trunk of the tree. 

 Its blows are delivered with extraordinary rapidity and 

 energy ; indeed, all its actions are impulsive and hasty. 

 The Woodpecker's trade is a curious one. While 

 other birds are hunting for all sorts of insects that fly 

 in the air, or crawl on the ground, or hide among the 

 leaves of trees, it lays siege to those which fancy they 

 have defied their enemies by burrowing into the solid 

 trunk. Its beak is a regular chisel, square at the 

 point, with an edge kept always sharp, on what grind- 

 stone I know not. Its tongue, which can be thrust out 

 for a distance of three or four inches, is armed at the 

 point with strong and sharp hooks, and also smeared, 

 I think, with birdlime, so that it forms at once a very 

 searching and a fast holding instrument. I remember 

 once watching a pair of Woodpeckers which had dis- 

 covered the burrow of some fat timber grub and were 

 determined to have it out. They first thrust their bills 

 in at the entrance, but evidently the occupant had 

 retired beyond the reach of their tongues. Then they 

 tried to tap the burrow some inches further down. 

 For a quarter of an hour they hammered away with 

 almost painful energy, but the wood proved to be 

 perfectly sound and very hard. Then they tried 

 another point and another, returning every now and 

 then to the orifice to thrust in their tongues and take 

 the exact direction of the hole. At last their patience 

 or their strength, wore out, and, with a cry of impa- 



