XV 



HOW EACH WOODPECKER IS FITTED FOR HIS 

 OWN KIND OF LIFE 



WE have studied the woodpeckers at some 

 length : first, what all of them do ; next, what 

 some that are peculiar in their ways do ; lastly, 

 how each is fitted for a particular kind of life. 

 At first we were inclined to think they were all 

 alike ; but now we begin to see that there are 

 very real differences between them, in tails, 

 feet, bills, and tongues, and at the same time in 

 their food and habits. 



The flicker's tail is less sharply curved than 

 that of any other woodpecker, a sign that he 

 is probably not exclusively a tree-dweller ; his 

 bill is curved and rounded, a pickaxe rather than 

 a drill, an indication that he does not dig for 

 grubs ; his feet do not tell us much ; but his 

 long extensile tongue shows that, whatever he 

 feeds upon, he seeks it in holes. We find a 

 tongue like this in no other bird, but among 

 mammals the aard-vark, the ant-bear, and the 

 pangolins are all similarly equipped, and all live 



