WOODPECKER. INSESSORES. PICUS. 373 



cayed wood of trees ; which last it is well enabled to reach 

 by the aid of its strong and wedge-shaped bill, penetrating 

 without difficulty to the nidus of the larva. Its long vermi- 

 form and extensile tongue is also of service in extracting the 

 smaller insects from the crevices of the baric, where they so 

 often lie concealed. This singular instrument, in addition 

 to a glutinous substance constantly exuding from its surface, 

 is armed at the point with sharp reflected bristles, acting 

 like the barbs of an arrow in preventing the escape of its 

 prey. The above description shews the tongue to be well 

 adapted for the capture of the ant, an insect of which the 

 Green Woodpecker is particularly fond, and on which ac- 

 count it is oftener seen on the ground than the other species. 

 Under a deficiency of its usual food, it will eat nuts. It 

 scales the trunks and branches of trees with facility and 

 swiftness, either in an upright or a spiral direction ; but 

 none of the species that frequent this country are able, as 

 has been asserted, to descend, as well as to ascend, with 

 equal readiness. When they wish to descend, it is effected 

 by moving backward, as I have repeatedly observed. This 

 peculiarity of motion seems to be the consequence of the 

 structure of the bird, in which the preponderance is thrown 

 considerably forward. The legs of this bird are short and 

 strong, and, by the disposition of the toes, and the form of 

 the claws, it is enabled to maintain a firm hold in a perpen- 

 dicular direction, in which position it is materially assisted 

 by the stiff-deflected tail-feathers. It lays its eggs in trees, 

 perforating a round hole, sometimes of considerable depth ; 

 for which purpose it selects those in a decaying state, or of 

 the softer kinds of wood, such as the aspen (Populus tre- 

 mula), to which it is very partial. When thus engaged, the 

 strokes are repeated with such velocity, that the head is 

 scarcely perceived to move, and the sound, it is said, may be 

 heard distinctly at the distance of half a mile.* It makes no 



* It also makes a jarring noise in the spring, which may be heard at some 

 distance, and which appears to be a note-call of both sexes to each other. 



