THE WOODPECKERS: BIRD FRIENDS OF OUR FORESTS 



685 



BLACK AND WHITE WOODPECKER 



Fig. 2. An adult male specimen of Harris's Woodpecke>, col- 

 lected by Mr. Robert Ridgway at Truckee Reservation in 

 Nevada (December 25, 1867), and now in the mounted collec- 

 tion of the United States National Museum. Photograph by 

 the author, somewhat reduced. 



them. Then, it is a well known fact that in sound trees, 

 occasionally in dead ones, woodpeckers excavate deep, 

 cylindrical cavities with circular entrances, at the bottom 

 of which their eggs are laid, and which subsequently 

 shelter their feajtiheriesis yoamg. Far this purpose tihe 

 trunk of the tree is sometimes selected ; while in not a 

 few instances, one of the larger branches seem to suit 

 the bird better. It is on record that woodpeckers have 

 occasionally made their nests in other ways and in otiher 

 places ; for instance, flickers have been known to hollow 

 out a nest on the ground, or to occupy a box fitted up 

 for them. 



Birds of other groups have nesting habits similar to 

 those of our woodpeckers ; but in no family are these 

 habits so general for all the species. The reader may 



readily find examples of this sort in any good work on 

 American birds, of which our natural history libraries 

 possess a generous supply. 



In the matter of bodily structtire, woodpeckers offer 

 us some remarkably interesting characters, and these, 

 as in all living creatures, pertain to the needs and habits 

 of the forms possessing them. Some of the larger spe- 

 cies have beaks that are veritable chisels, being strong 

 and stout, with distal end well adapted for cutting into 

 wood or other substances of a like density. Such bills 

 are best seen in our big Ivory-bill Woodpecker or in the 

 Pileated Woodpecker; while in the smaller fo,rms, as 

 in the Downy and the like, the beak may be weaker, 

 but still fully meeting the demands of the bird possess- 

 ing it. 



The skull is strong and of a characteristic type ; while 

 the tongue, in the majority of species, is of a unique 

 sort. In order to quickly secure many of tihe insects 

 that the bird discovers through persistent search and 

 bill-rapping, instant and unusual protrusion is called 

 for. This is effected in two somewhat similar ways, 

 both of which are shown in Fig. 7. Various, very 

 slender bones constitute the framework of all birds' 



SMALLER BLACK AND WHITE WOODPECKER 



Fig. 3. A familiar species is ithe Downy Woodpecker of the 

 East (Dryobates p. pubescens), and the specimen here shown 

 was photographed from life by the author. The adult male 

 bird has a scarlet crescent on the back of its head. 



