country. Not long ago I was in con- 

 versation with a woman who is an en- 

 thusiastic 'lover of the birds, and I was 

 telling her of these trees. She said: 

 "And are you going to deaden some 

 of them so that the Woodpeckers can 

 build their nests in them?" I had to 

 answer, ''No." As much as I love the 

 birds, I would not deaden a tree so that 

 they might nest in the body. I will 

 not kill a bird, nor will I wantonly 

 kill a tree. I love the one as I love 

 the other. To me the two are insepa- 

 rable, and alike must live. 



The nest of the Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker is a fine specimen of workman- 

 ship, and usually excavated in the bole 

 or limb of a tree, telegraph pole or 

 fence stake, and ranges in height from 

 six to seventy-five feet from the 

 ground. It is when excavating these 

 that it can be said that he sings : 



"I am birdom's carpenter; 



Can make the splinters fly; 

 On pales and posts and forest trees 



My merry trade I ply. 

 My bill is my chisel, 



My tail is my stool." 



Arid true enough he is a carpenter, 

 for he makes a true circle for his hole, 

 and his bill is his chisel and his tail his 

 stool. The bill is long, straight and 

 wedge-shaped, with flattened and trun- 

 cated tip and sides more or less rigid, 

 and is admirably adapted to making 

 such excavations and pecking holes 

 in the bark and boles of the trees in 

 search of insects and larvae which are 

 there concealed. And it is wonderful 

 how he uses his tail when doing these 

 things. The tail feathers are short, 

 stout and spinelike at the ends. He has 

 four toes — two in front and two be- 

 hind. With these he takes hold of the 

 bole of the tree with vice-like grip, and 

 then throws himself back on his tail, 

 which he uses as a fulcrum for support, 

 and then he is ready for work with his 

 ivory-billed chisel. Both birds, male 

 and female, take turns in making the 

 excavations. One will work for awhile, 

 and then, projecting his or her head 

 out of the hole, call to the other to 

 take his or her turn at the work, and 

 the absent one promptly responds to 

 the call. The construction of the nest 

 is sucli as to protect the young from 



exposure to their enemies, the squirrels, 

 hawks and owls, but not from the black- 

 snake. This snake, otherwise harmless, 

 is a tree climber, and cHmbs to the nests 

 of these birds, as well as to those which 

 are out on the branches of the tree, and 

 destroys the eggs and young birds, and 

 in this respect is a most destructive 

 creature. 



In the middle states nidifications be- 

 gin with the Red-headed Woodpecker 

 during the month of May. From four to 

 seven short, ovate, china-white eggs 

 are laid in the nest upon the fine chips 

 which line its bottom. Incubation lasts 

 about two weeks, and both parents take 

 part in it and in feeding the young after 

 they are hatched. These are fed one at 

 a time, and from the mouth of the nest 

 as soon as they are able to climb up to 

 it. When one has been thus fed, it 

 stands aside and makes way for another. 

 It is interesting after the young have 

 left the nest. A good chance to see 

 them is along a highway on the fence 

 stakes of a ''worm" fence, that seem- 

 ingly being a favorite place with them. 



The tongue of the Woodpeckers is 

 their most useful instrument, and is 

 wonderfully adapted to the particular 

 work of caring for the boles and 

 branches of our trees. Its hyoid bone 

 is greatly elongated, divides posteriorly 

 and extends around the back and over 

 the top of the head, the anterior ends 

 being enveloped in a sheath in which 

 they freely move, and being attached in 

 advance of the eyes, usually near the 

 opening of the right nostril. Those 

 slender bows are accompanied by slips 

 of muscles by whose contraction they 

 are shortened, thrusting the tongue out 

 far beyond the bill. Another pair of 

 muscles, folded around the upper part 

 of the trachea and going forward to the 

 anterior part of the tongiie, draws the 

 organ in again. The surface of the 

 tongue is covered with a glutinous mat- 

 ter, secreted by the large glands, where 

 the ducts open near the point of the 

 lower jaw, and furnish a fresh supply 

 every time the tongue is drawn in. Its 

 tip is horny, with several barbed fila- 

 ments pointing backward. Being so 

 constructed the bird can protrude its 

 tongue into the deep holes made by 



