62 THE WOODPECKERS 



will even invent methods of getting it, if it is 

 much to their taste. The way the English spar- 

 rows have learned to tear open corn husks so as 

 to eat the corn in the milk is a good example, for 

 our maize does not grow in England, and they 

 have had to learn about its good qualities in the 

 few years since they have become established out- 

 side of the cities. Yet it is already a well-estab- 

 lished habit. So quickly does a habit spread from 

 one bird to another, until it becomes the rule in- 

 stead of the exception ! Acquired habits always 

 show adaptability, and often much forethought 

 and reason. It is the shrewd bird that learns 

 new tricks. 



Now there is not known among birds any evi- 

 dence of greater forethought and reason than 

 working hard in pleasant weather, when food is 

 plentiful beyond all hope of ever exhausting it, 

 to lay up provision for winter. How does the 

 woodpecker know that winter will come this 

 year ? That there was a winter last year and 

 the year before does not make it certain, but 

 only probable, that there will be one this year. 

 We cannot know ourselves that the seasons will 

 change until we learn enough of astronomy to 

 understand the proof. Nor does instinct explain 

 the habit, as some would declare : since not all 

 red-heads have the habit, though all must have 



