SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 253 



saving most of the trees. The cut (Fig. 109) shows a por- 

 tion of the top of one of these trees, riddled by the borer. 

 The knife-cut at the bottom exposes their galleries. The 

 small perforations along the stem were made by 

 the AVoodpecker in extracting the grubs. 



The untiring industry of this bird and the per- 

 fection of its perceptive powers may be sho^v^n 

 by the experience of Mr. Bailey. On INIarch 28, 

 1899, a Downy Woodpecker that he watched 

 climbed over and inspected one hundred and 

 eighty-one woodland trees between 9.40 a.m. 

 and 12.15 p.m., and made twenty-six excava- 

 tions for food. Most of these holes exposed gal- 

 leries in the trunks or in high branches where 

 wood-boring ants were hiding. The openings 

 that the bird drilled in piercing one of these 

 tunnels in a branch some thirty-five feet from 

 the ground are shown in Fig. 110. It had un- 

 covered d(jrmant black ants, and in each case had 



pierced their 



■^//:^/? burrow at 



the exact spot 



where they were 



gathered . These 



dm 



wood-boring ants 



often gain an entrance 



at some unprotected 



spot on a living tree, and 



so excavate the wood of the 



trunk that the tree is l)lown 



down by the wind. This AVood- 



peoker acts as a continual check Fig. i09. 



on the increase of such ants. 



The delicacy of that sense of touch or 

 audition by which the bird was enabled to 

 locate those motionless insects in their hid- 

 den burrow must ever command our admiration, unendowed 

 as we are with such delicate perceptive powers. 



Another Downy Woodpecker was seen on ]\Iarch .31 taking 



Fig. 110. — Downy 

 AVoodpecker and 

 his work. 



