WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



exposed by their conspicuous size and colors and 

 their boldness in visiting orchards and other places 

 near the haunts of mankind. 



This woodpecker differs largely from others in 

 his food. His curved beak is less well adapted to 

 digging grubs and boring insects out of wood than 

 are the straight pickaxes of the others, and he seems 

 to get nearly all his food from the ground or from 

 logs and stumps, taking in a good deal of grit in 

 the process. 



Professor F. E. L. Beal, who has made a special 

 study of this bird's food for the Department of Ag- 

 riculture, learns that about a quarter of its food 

 consists of berries, grain, and seed a far larger 

 proportion than any other woodpecker is known 

 to make use of. The remainder of the food is made 

 up of insects, chiefly ants, which constitute more 

 than half of the whole. Next in importance are 

 beetles, chiefly those dwelling upon or in the ground ; 

 grasshoppers and crickets ; and various other forms, 

 including spiders and myriapods, but not many 

 caterpillars or grubs. 



This peculiarity of fare goes with a peculiarity 

 of tongue in this woodpecker, which is rather thicker 

 and longer than that of other species, and is capa- 

 ble of being thrust out of the mouth to an amaz- 



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