324 Personality of Trees [THIRD WEEK 



Lizards, from tiny swifts to sixty-inch iguanas, would 

 sorely miss the trees, while the lithe green tree snakes and 

 the tree boas would have to change all their life habits in 

 order to be able to exist. But as for the cold, uncanny 

 turtles and alligators, what are trees to them ! 



In the evolution of the birds and other animals, the 

 cry of "excelsior" has been followed literally as well as 

 theoretically and, with a few exceptions, the highest in 

 each class have not only risen above their fellows in intel- 

 ligence and structure, but have left the earth and climbed 

 or flown to the tree-tops, making these their chief place of 

 abode. 



Many of the birds which find their food at sea, or in 

 the waters of stream and lake, repair to the trees for the 

 purpose of building their nests among the branches. Such 

 birds are the pelicans, herons, ibises, and ospreys; while 

 the wood ducks lay their eggs high above the ground in 

 the hollows of trees. Parrots, kingfishers, swifts, and 

 hummingbirds are almost helpless on the ground, their 

 feet being adapted for climbing about the branches, perch- 

 ing on twigs, or clinging to the hollows of trees. Taken as 

 a whole, birds would suffer more than any other class of 

 creatures in a deforested world. The woodpeckers would 

 be without home, food, and resting-place ; except, possibly, 

 the flicker, or high-hole, who is either a retrograde or a 

 genius, whichever we may choose to consider him, and 

 could live well enough upon ground ants. But as to his 

 nest he would have to sharpen his wits still more to 

 solve successfully the question of the woodpecker motto, 

 "What is home without a hollow tree?" 



