200 HISTORY O? 



As the woodpecker is obliged to make holes 

 in trees to procure food, so is it also to make 

 cavities still larger to form its nest and to lay 

 in. This is performed, as usual, with the bill ; 

 although some have affirmed that the animal uses 

 its tongue, as a gimblet, to bore with. But this 

 is a mistake ; and those that are curious, may 

 often hear the noise of the bill making its way 

 in large woods and forests. The woodpecker 

 chooses, however, for this purpose, trees that are 

 decayed, or wood that is soft, like beech, elm, 

 and poplar. In these, with very little trouble, it 

 can make holes as exactly round as a mathemati- 

 cian could with compasses. One of these holes 

 the bird generally chooses for its own use, to 

 nestle and bring up its young in ; but as they are 

 easily made, it is delicate in its choice, and often 

 makes twenty before one is found fit to give en- 

 tire satisfaction. Of those which it has made and 

 deserted, other birds, not so good borers, and less 

 delicate in their choice, take possession. The jay 

 and the starling lay their eggs in these holes ; and 

 bats are now and then found in peaceable posses- 

 sion. Boys sometimes have thrust in their hands 

 with certain hopes of plucking out a bird's egg, 

 but, to their great mortification, have had their 

 fingers bitten by a bat at the bottom. 



The woodpecker takes no care to line its nest 

 with feathers or straw ; its eggs are deposited in 

 the hole, without any thing to keep them warm, 

 except the heat of the parent's body. Their 

 number is generally five or six; always white, 

 oblong, and of a middle size. When the young 



