214 ZYGODACTYLES. 



would find on a healthy tree. Nature guides them to those 

 trees where their labour is light, and they have plenty to 

 eat. 



They do not work with their bills as if these were pincers 

 to tear, or chisels to detach pieces ; they proceed in the same 

 manner as a mason does when he perforates a block of granite 

 with a pointed pick ; they thump away with so much rapidity 

 and force, that the timber is ground to powder ; and they 

 Jv^prk in a circle no larger than will admit themselves. "They 

 *" generally burrow so deep that no spoiler can reach their eggs 

 in their absence ; and farther security is afforded by the 

 opening being in some hidden part of the tree. The sound, 

 which bears some resemblance to that made by the grinding 

 of a tlpcl^ 'piece of steel on a rather smooth stone, may be 

 heard 'Ot' a considerable distance; but though one proceed to 

 the sound, it is not easy to see the birds. This arises partly 

 from the uncertainty of the direction of sounds in forests 

 (which, by the way, prevents animals from being betrayed by 

 their own notes, either into danger or out of their prey), and 

 partly from the ease with which the wood-pecker can glide 

 spirally round and gradually ascend, always keeping on the 

 side of the tree opposite to the observer. 



There are seldom any materials carried in for the nest. If 

 it is wholly made, it is made of the form and size wanted, 

 and rendered soft by a part of the powder of the tree ; and 

 if there is a chink downward, that is filled up; but if there 

 is one upward, which admits the rain, the nest is excavated in 

 a lateral direction till the drip is escaped, or if that be impos- 

 sible, the place is abandoned for another. The eggs are four 

 or five, and the young come out, and ascend the trunk and 

 branches, and feed there a considerable time before they 

 can fly. 



The wood-pecker digs its way to the insects which are in 

 the tree with its beak, but it uses the tongue in extracting 



