NATUftAL THEOLOGY. 2G1 



into the stomach, whenever thirst excites it to put 

 this power in action. 



II. The tongue of the ivoodpecker is one of those 

 singularities, which nature presents us with, when 

 a singular purpose is to be answered. It is a par- 

 ticular instrument for a particular use ; and what,, 

 except design, ever produces such? The wood- 

 pecker lives chiefly upon insects lodged in the 

 bodies of decayed or decaying trees. For the pur- 

 pose of boring into the wood, it is furnished with 

 a bill straight, hard, angular, and sharp. When. 

 by means of this piercer, it has reached the cells 

 of the insects, then comes the office of its tongue ; 

 which tongue is, first, of such a length that the 

 bird can dart it out three or four inches from the 

 bill, — in this respect differing greatly from every 

 other species of bird ; in the second place, it is 

 tipped with a stiff, sharp, bony thorn ; and, in the 

 thu'd place, (which appears to me the most re- 

 .markable property of all,) this tip is dentated on 

 both sides like the beard of an arrow or the barb 

 of a hook. The description of the part declares 

 it& uses. The bird, having exposed the retreats 

 of the insects by the assistance of its bill, with a 

 motion inconceivably quick, launches out at them 

 this long tongue ; transfixes them upon the barbed 

 needle at the end of it ; and thus draws its prey 

 within its mouth. If this be not mechanism, what 

 is ? Should it be said, that, by continual endea- 

 vours to shoot out the tongue to the stretch, the 

 woodpecker species may by degrees have length^* 



