NATURAL HISTORY. 3t3 



upper mandible with the skull. From thence they sweep 

 round the back of the head, and passing under the lower 

 mandible, enable the tongue to be thrust out a considerable dis- 

 tance. The tip of the tongue is sharp, and barbed with several 

 filaments, and more firmly to secure the prey, a kind of gummy 

 secretion causes those insects to adhere, that would be too 

 small to be impaled. 



It appears to be an erroneous opinion that these birds in- 

 jure trees. Their only object in pecking away the wood and 

 bark, is to get at the insects which they know are hidden 

 within. Now insects seldom or never bore into healthy wood, 

 but a decayed branch or stump is always full of them, as is 

 well known to the entomologist. So the winged entomologist, 

 when he perceives a decayed branch, or finds an unsound'spot in 

 the trunk, immediately sets to work industriously, and is re- 

 warded by finding plenty of insects, which he draws out and 

 demolishes, with more benefit to himself and possibly more 

 good to others than many human entomologists can boast. 



Although the Woodpecker does not scoop away sound trees, 

 yet it is because it has no motive for doing so not that the 

 power is wanting. Wilson had an Ivory-billed Woodpecker in 

 his possession, which pecked away lath and plaster in its 

 efforts to escape, and utterly ruined a mahogany table to which 

 it was fastened. 



The GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER is an inhabitant of Eng- 

 land, but is seldom seen. Large woods are its favourite haunts. 

 Like all its tribe, it feeds on the insects which it procures from 

 decayed trees, and also on berries and fruits. Its eggs are laid 

 in a deep hole excavated in a tree. For this purpose the 

 Woodpecker usually chooses a place where a branch has broken 

 off, or more commonly the part of the trunk where a certain 

 fungus has grown, causing the tree to decay in that spot, al- 

 though apparently healthy. 



SKULL OP THE WOODPECKER. 



