124 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



very stiff, hard feathers, and is pressed against the bark 

 to act as a prop when the bird is climbing. For Wood- 

 peckers do not usually hop about the twigs like most 

 perching birds, but climb up the trunks and along the 

 branches ; they never climb downwards, but if they 

 want to descend let themselves down backwards ; they 

 are very quick and clever at moving along sideways 

 and even upside down. Their wings are only moderately 

 long, and they have a very characteristic flight, dipping 

 and rising by alternately fluttering and closing then- 

 wings, although they are usually fair-sized birds ; but 

 ordinarily they only go from tree to tree. They do not 

 come to the ground much as a rule, and when there move 

 by awkward hops. 



The eggs of Woodpeckers are always white and are 

 laid in holes pecked out in trees by the old birds, without 

 any lining. The young are hatched naked and have a 

 curious warty pad on the hock-joint, upon which they 

 shuffle about, not standing up on their toes till they are 

 fledged. Unlike most young birds, they often show their 

 sex as soon as they are fledged, resembling the old birds 

 in the comparatively small differences which distinguish 

 the sexes of these. Woodpeckers are often gaily-coloured 

 birds, but they do not sing, and generally have very harsh 

 notes. They are very striking and ornamental, however, 

 and particularly useful birds, as they feed almost entirely 

 on insects, which they dig out of decaying wood or extract 

 from under bark with their strong bills and long barbed 

 tongues. Thus they keep in check a class of insects which 

 are left alone by other birds, and, although they do not 



