of old buildings and in cultivated trees. 

 Its hard and sharp bill enables it to pene- 

 trate even the hard wood exterior of trees 

 in its search for insects in the somewhat 

 decayed portions within. When the work 

 of its bill has opened a passage to its 

 prey its tongue is used for the extraction 

 of the food. It is an extensile organ and 

 barbed with reflected bristles. It catches 

 insects found on the surface of the bark 

 or upon the ground by the use of the 

 tongue only and the rapidity with which 

 it is moved is wonderful. Reverend F. 

 O. Morris describes its tongue when in 

 motion, as having ''the appearance of a 

 silver ribbon, or rather, from its trans- 

 parency, a stream of molten glass, and 

 the rapidity with which it is protruded 

 and withdrawn is so great that the eye is 

 dazzled in following its motions ; it is 

 flexible in the highest degree." 



The Green Woodpecker not only feeds 

 upon the grubs that bore in the wood 

 of trees, but also upon the various in- 

 sects that it finds upon the surface. It 

 will also feed upon the eggs of insects, 

 and ants are dainty morsels of food and 

 of these it destroys a large number, seek- 

 ing them upon the ground as well as on 

 the trees. Bewick says that the Green 

 Woodpecker will not only use its bill and 

 tongue in its search for ants on the 



ground, but will also use its feet to 

 scratch away the leaves and dirt. 



The Green Woodpecker nests either in 

 a natural hole in a tree or in one that it 

 has excavated. It never attacks a tree 

 for this purpose that is perfectly sound, 

 but only those that are more or less de- 

 cayed within. Here the labor is light and 

 there is usually an abundance of food 

 near by. Both sexes assist in the work 

 of excavating through the healthy ex- 

 terior wood and so rapid are the strokes 

 of their bills that it is impossible to 

 count them. The holes are not lined and 

 the eggs are laid on the powdered decayed 

 wood in the bottom cr upon a few chips 

 that are left from the chiseling of the 

 hard wood. The young birds leave the 

 nest and run on the tree before they are 

 able to fly and it is said that if they are 

 taken from the tree at this time they may 

 be raised in captivity and will become 

 quite tame. 



The woodpeckers are among our most 

 useful birds. Though they do not feed 

 to any extent upon the insect pests of the 

 meadow, the grain field and the garden, 

 thev do destroy a large number of the 

 borers and ether insects that are injurious 

 to trees. "The a°:ed tree is all to the 

 woodpecker and the woodpecker is much 

 to the aged tree." 



THE TRAGEDY OF A WAX WING. 



He was perched on the very top limb 

 of a flourishing mountain-ash tree, the 

 first time we saw him one bright day in 

 autumn, as free as the air about him 

 and as handsome a specimen of the spe- 

 cies "Ampelis cedrorum" as one would 

 wish to see. The tree was loaded with 

 fine clusters of scarlet berries, ripe and 

 luscious from a bird point of view and 

 the bird was surrounded by a large party 

 of his friends. They had all stopped for 

 a rest while on their journey southward 

 and were chattering gaily as they held 



a regular banquet. The tree stood di- 

 rectly before the home of the Bedell 

 family and at the moment Jack and 

 Jerry Bedell, with their little sister Bes- 

 sie, were watching the birds from the 

 library window. 



"They are cedar birds," remarked 

 Jerry. 



''Yes/''' said Jack. ''They come every 

 year about this time. I have been look- 

 ing them up. Here it is," turning to the 

 dictionary, "an Ampeloid bird, having 

 soft, mainly brown plumage, an erectile 



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