70 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



being used as pincers. This is another story and a very interesting 

 one; the downy and hairy can both extend their tongues far beyond the 

 point of the beak, and the tip of the 

 tongue is hard and horny and covered 

 with short backward-slanting hooks 

 acting Hke a spear or harpoon, and 

 when thrust into the grub pulls it out 

 easily (see initial). The bones of the 

 tongue have a spring arrangement; 

 when not in use, the tongue lies soft in 

 the mouth, like a wrinkled earth- 

 worm, but when in use, the bones 

 spring out, stretching it to its full 

 length and it is then slim and small. 

 The process is like fastening a pencil 

 to the tip of a glove finger; when 

 drawn back the finger is wrinkled 

 together, but when thrust out, 

 straightens. This spring arrangement 

 of the bones of the woodpecker's 

 tongue is a marvellous mechanism 

 and should be studied through pic- 

 tures; see Birds, Eckstrom, Chap- 

 ter XIV; The Bird, Beebe, p. 122; 

 "The Tongues of Woodpeckers," 

 Lucas, U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



Since the food of the downy and 

 the hairy is where they can get it all winter, there is no need for them to 

 go South ; thus they stay with us and work for us the entire year. We 

 should try to make them feel at home with us in our orchards and shade 

 trees by putting up pieces of beef fat, to convince them of their welcome. 

 No amount of free food will pauperize these birds, for as soon as they 

 have eaten of the fat, they commence to hunt for grubs on the tree and 

 thus earn their feast. They never injure live wood. 



James AVhitcomb Riley describes the drumming of the woodpecker as 

 "weeding out the lonesomeness" and that is exactly what the drumming 

 of the woodpecker means. The male selects some dried limb of hard 

 wood and there beats out his well-known signal which advertises far and 

 near, "Wanted, a wife." And after he wins her, he still drums on for a 

 time to cheer her while she is busy with her family cares. The wood- 

 pecker has no voice for singing, like the robin or thrush; and luckil}', he 

 does not insist on singing, like the peacock whether he can or not. He 

 chooses rather to devote his voice to terse and business-like conversation ; 

 and when he is musically inclined, he turns drummer. He is rather 

 particular about his instrument and having found one that is sufficiently 

 resonant he returns to it day after day. While it is ordinarily the male 

 that drums I once observed a female drumming. I told her that she was 

 a bold minx and ought to be ashamed of herself; but within twenty 

 minutes she had drummed up two red-capped suitors who chased each 

 other about with great animosity, so her performance was evidently not 

 considered improper in woodpecker society. I have watched a rival pair 



Friend Downy. 

 Drawing by A. L. Fuertes. 



