552 HEAD AND TONGUE OF THE WOODPECKER 



hold of the tree to which it is clinging, while it works away at the bark or wood with its 

 bill. The tail, too, is furnished with very stiff and pointed feathers, which are x^ressed 

 against the bark, and form a kind of support on which the bird can rest a large proportion 

 of its weight. The breast-bone is not so prominent as in the generality of flying birds, 

 in order to enable the Woodpecker to j)ress its breast closely to the tree, and the beak is 

 long, strong, and sharp. 



Tliese modifications aid the bird in cutting away the wood, but there is yet a provision 

 needful to render the Woodpecker capable of seizing the little insects on which it feeds, 

 and which lurk in small holes and crannies into wliich the beak of the Woodpecker could 

 not penetrate. This structure is shown by the accompanying sketch of a Woodpecker's 



HEAD OF WOODPECKER 



head dissected. The tongue-bones or " hyoid" bones are greatly lengthened, and pass over 

 the top of the head, being fastened in the skull just above the right nostril. These long 

 tendinous-looking bones are accompanied by a narrow strip of muscle by which they are 

 moved. 



The tongue is furnished at the tip with a long horny appendage covered with barbs 

 and sharply pointed at the extremity, so that the bird is enabled to project this instrument 

 to a considerable distance from the bill, transfix an insect, and draw it into the mouth. 

 Those insects that are too small to be thus treated are captured by means of a glutinous 

 liquid poured upon the tongaie from certain glands within the mouth, and which cause the 

 little insects to adhere to the weapon suddenly projected among them. This whole 

 arrangement is clearly analogous to the tongue of the ant-eater, described in the volume on 

 Mammalia, j)age 771. Some authors deny the transfixion. 



The Geeat Spotted Woodpecker is one of the five British species, and is also 

 known by the names of Frenchpie and Woodpie. 



It is found in many parts of England, and, like the other Woodpeckers, must be sought 

 in the forests and woods rather than in orchards and gardens. Like other shy birds, 

 however, it soon finds out where it may take up its abode unmolested, and will 

 occasionally make its nest in some cultivated ground, where it has the instinctive assurance 

 of safety, rather than entrust itself to the uncertain security of the forest. 



In the woods frequented by these birds, which are often more plentiful than is 

 generally known, the careful observer may watch their movements without difficulty, by 

 taking a few preliminary precautions. 



The rapid series of strokes on the bark, something like the sound of a watchman's 

 rattle, will indicate the direction in which the bird is working ; and when the intruding 

 observer has drawn near the tree on which he suspects the Woodpecker to have settled, he 

 should quietly sit or lie down, without moving. At first the bird wiU not be visible, for 

 the Woodpeckers, like the squirrels, have a natural tact for keeping the tree-trunk or 



