The Woodhewer Family. 243 



that these birds resemble each other only in their 

 climbing feet ; in the form of their beaks they are 

 as wide apart as are nuthatches, ■woodpeckers, 

 crows, and curlews. They also differ markedly in 

 the manner of seeking their food. Some dig like 

 woodpeckers in decayed wood; others probe only 

 in soft rotten wood ; while the humming-bird-billed 

 Xiphorhynchus, with a beak too long and slender 

 for probing, explores the interior of deep holes in 

 the trunks to draw out nocturnal insects, spiders, 

 and centipedes from their concealment. Xiphoco- 

 laptes uses its sword-like beak as a lever, thrusting 

 it under a,nd forcing up the loose bark ; while 

 Dendrornis, with its stout corvine beak, tears the 

 bark off. 



In the nesting habits the diversity is greatest. 

 Some ground species excavate in the earth like 

 kingfishers, only with greater skill, making cylin- 

 drical burrows often four to five feet deep, and 

 terminating in a round chamber. Others build a 

 massive oven-shaped structure of clay on a branch 

 or other elevated site. Many of those that creep on 

 trees nest in holes in the wood. The marsh- 

 frequenting kinds attach spherical or oval domed 

 nests to the reeds; and in some cases woven grass 

 and clay are so ingeniously combined that the 

 structure, while light as a basket, is perfectly 

 impervious to the wet and practically indestructible. 

 The most curious nests, however, are the large stick 

 structures on trees and bushes, in the building and 

 repairing of which the birds are in many cases 

 employed more or less constantly all the year 

 round. These stick nests vary greatly in form, 



