CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE ORDER OF WOODPECKERS 



PICI 



The Woodpeckers are the natural protectors 

 of the forests of the temperate zone. But for 

 them, tree-borers would multiply without limit, 

 and the number of trees that would fall before 

 the insect pests is quite beyond computation. 

 While the robin, the thrush and the warblers 

 take care of the caterpillars and the leaf-insects 

 generally, the woodpecker sticks to the business 

 of his own guild, and looks after the pests that 

 attack the bark and the wood. The tree-creep- 

 ers assist by picking off insects from the outside, 

 but when it comes to the heavy work of digging 

 borers out of the bark by main strength, the 

 woodpecker is the only bird equal to it. 



There are about twenty-five species of wood- 

 peckers in the United States. 



Usually, the long, barbed tongue of this bird 

 is sufficient to spear a borer, and drag it forth 

 to meet the death it deserves. When this will 

 not do the work, the woodpecker's claws take 

 a good grip on the bark, and serious work be- 

 gins. 



Do not think, however, that because a rolling 

 tattoo beaten on a hard dead limb can be heard 

 a quarter of a mile, that the bird making the 

 noise is working unusually hard. Quite the con- 

 trary. The loud tattoo is a signal, like the 

 "' certain whistle " of a small boy. In our Beaver 

 Pond, the golden-winged woodpeckers some- 

 times beat on the galvanized-iron drums which 

 protect the bases of the trees from the teeth of 

 the beavers. 



When a woodpecker is working hardest, you 

 hear only a faint "chuck! chuck! chuck!" as 

 he drives his sharp, wedge-like beak into the 

 bark, or soft wood. Often the falling chips are 

 your first notice that a winged forester is at work 

 aloft, digging out and devouring the larvae that, 

 if left alone, bring decay and death to trees. 



You may be sure that whenever you find one 

 of these valuable birds at work, there is need for 

 him. To-day, a great many persons know their 



value, and protect them. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, men who are so thoughtless or so mean as 

 to engage in the brutal pastime known as a " side 

 hunt," do lower themselves, and injure the land- 

 owners about them, by killing every woodpecker 

 that can be found, — for "points." If all farm- 

 ers only knew what a loss every "side hunt" 

 means to them, such wicked pastimes would not 

 be tolerated. 



Although the woodpeckers are not counted 

 as birds of song, to me the loud, joyous cry of 

 the flicker, the downy and the red-head, ringing 

 through the leafy forest aisles, is genuine music. 

 One species cries "CVieer-up! Cheer-up\" and it 

 cheers-up and thrills me to hear it. Even in 

 summer, when other birds are plentiful, it is a 

 welcome sound. In bleak winter, when the 

 great bulk of bird-life has vanished southward, 

 and you toilsomely tread the silent forest, ankle- 

 deep in snow, the world seems lifeless and drear — 

 until you hear the clarion greeting of the golden- 

 winged woodpecker. It is enough to stir the 

 soul of a Digger Indian with a pleasing sense of 

 companionship in life. 



It is only the children of the cities who need 

 to be told that woodpeckers have two toes in 

 front and two behind, to enable them to cling 

 to tree-bark; that the natural perch of such a 

 bird is the perpendicular trunk of a tree; that 

 sometimes they store acorns in holes which they 

 dig in the sides of decayed trees, not in order that 

 worms in those acorns may develop, but in order 

 to eat the acorns themselves. They nest high 

 up in hollow tree-trunks, which they enter through 

 round holes of their own making. 1 



1 Those who are specially interested in the habits 

 of woodpeckers mav profitablv consult a report on 

 " The Food of Woodpeckers " by Prof. F. E. L. Beal, 

 published by the Department of Agriculture in 1S95. 

 The exact proportions of the various kinds of food 

 consumed by seven species have been determined by 

 examination of the stomachs of several hundred 

 birds, and the figures quoted later on are from that 

 report. 



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