THE WOODPECKER. 71 



by the peculiar construction of the beak, the feet, and tlie 

 tail ; the beak enabling them to chip away the bark and wood, 

 the feet giving them the power of clinging to the tree-trunk, 

 and the tail helping to support them in the attitude whicli 

 ijives to their strokes the gi'eatest force. Their beaks are long, 

 powerful, straight and pointed ; their feet are formed for grasping, 

 and are set far back upon the body ; and their tails are short and 

 dtiff, and act as props wlien pressed against the rough bark. 



From England, the Woodpeckers are fast disappearing, and 

 except in the few forests and woods that still remain, a Wood- 

 pecker is now seldom seen in this country. The birds, however, 

 possess that remarkable instinct which tells them where they 

 will be safe ; and any one who possesses a sufficiency of trees 

 surrounded by a wall, and who will not permit a gun to be fired 

 within those precincts, will not have to, wait very long before 

 his eyes are gladdened by the bright colours of tlie Woodpecker's 

 plumage as it darts from tree to tree, and his ears gratified by 

 the rapid tattoo of its beak upon the wood. 



We should probably have possessed many more specimens of 

 the Woodpecker, had it not been subjected to such persecution. 

 It was universally thought to be very hurtful to trees, and its 

 reiterated blows were considered as so many direct injuries. If 

 the observer could quietly make his way to a tree on which the 

 Woodpecker was at work, he would find great flakes of bark 

 lying on the ground, as marks of the bird's industry, and might 

 be led to suppose that, in separating them from the trunk, the 

 bird was inflicting a positive injury upon it. If, however, he 

 should examine the flakes of bark, he would find that they had 

 already been separated from the tree in the course of nature, and 

 that they were mere useless excrescences upon its surface. Under 

 these bark-flakes whole tribes of insects find a shelter, and it 

 is in order to obtain the insects that the Woodpecker removes 

 the flakes. 



As is well known, this bird makes its nest in a tunnel which 

 it hollows in the tree, and to a superficial observer might easily 

 be reckoned among the enemies of the forest. If it were to bur- 

 row into sound timber, as is often supposed to be the case, it 

 would certainly rank among the deadliest foes of our trees ; for 

 in the spots where it still resides, its burrows may be seen in 

 plenty, perforating the trunks and branches of the finest and 



