A FELLOW OF EXPEDIENTS 



[MONG the birds there is one whose 

 personal appearance is rapidly 

 changing. He illustrates in his 

 present life a process well known 

 historically to all naturalists, viz., 

 the modification of form resulting 

 from changed environment. I refer to the 

 golden-winged woodpecker, perhaps the most 

 beautifully marked bird of the North, whose 

 names are as varied as his habits and accom- 

 plishments. 



Nature intended him to get his living, as 

 do the other woodpeckers, by boring into old 

 trees and stumps for the insects that live on 

 the decaying wood. For this purpose she 

 gave liim the straight, sharp, wedge-shaped 

 bill, just calculated for cutting out chips ; 

 the long horn-tipped tongue, for thrust- 

 ing into the holes he makes ; the pecuhar 



