66 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



and legs drawn up, he progresses with his curious flight 

 first a flutter and then a dip with closed wings to some 

 tree-trunks which he intends to explore. He is not shy, 

 and will readily permit you to admire his old-gold back 

 and scarlet crest as he hitches himself up the bark, sound- 

 ing for insects as he goes. His motto is ever excelsior, for 

 Woodpeckers always work upwards, though they can slip 

 down backwards or laterally round the trunk of their 

 tree if they wish. The foot of the Woodpecker, with the 

 toes in pairs, is supposed to be especially fitted for this 

 kind of travelling. But this is open to doubt ; some other 

 birds which do not climb, like the woodpeckers, near 

 relatives the barbets, have the same arrangement ; and if 

 it be go convenient for a climbing bird to have two toes 

 behind instead of one, why are the woodpeckers as a 

 family gradually getting rid of the inner hind toe ? This 

 is always smaller than the outer one, and not unfre- 

 quently absent altogether ; while in some species, as in 

 the Golden-backed one under discussion, the toe is there 

 indeed, but in the form of a tiny useless vestige that has 

 to be looked for carefully. 



There are other points in our feathered carpenter's 

 structure, however, about the usefulness of which no doubt 

 can exist. His stiff wiry tail, which is never cocked up as 

 it is by other birds, is a most admirable prop to support 

 him as he clings vertically to the tree, and his hard chisel- 

 tipped beak contains a most curious tongue, long and 

 worm-like, and armed with a many-barbed horny tip. 

 This he can shoot out with great facility to some distance, 

 as its base is supported by a pair of bony springs ; and 



