WOODPECKERS. 



Woodpeckers have a large powerful bill, which is 

 very sharp and is used as a chisel to excavate holes in 

 trees, and to dig out insects that burrow in the wood. 

 The tongue is long and barbed and can be thrust far 

 out of the mouth to extract such insects as the bill 

 cannot reach. These birds do an immense amount 

 of good in preserving our forests and orchards from 

 the ravages of wood-borers, ants, and other insects 

 injurious to wood. 



Instead of having three toes in front and one be- 

 hind, as most birds do, Woodpeckers have two stout 

 toes behind and two in front which enable them to 

 climb tree-trunks easily, and when they stop to dig 

 or rest they are propped by the hind toes, and by 

 their stiff, pointed tail-feathers. They are said to 

 often sleep in this position. 



Woodpeckers do not sing, but with the bill drum 

 their love-song on a dead limb or other resonant sur- 

 face. Their hammering power is tremendous, as was 

 realized by the inmates of a slab-covered lodge which 

 Red-heads sometimes visited. One could imagine the 

 consternation among the denizens of a tree-trunk 

 when a Woodpecker knocks for admittance. He is 

 often seen to tap and then turn his head to listen as 

 if locating his prey, which he is said to do unerringly. 



Woodpeckers' holes are small at the surface but 

 roomy inside, and are from six to twenty-four inches 

 deep. Their eggs are always pure white without 

 markings. 



