The Woodpecker. 41 



alighting near its base, to repeat every act of the per- 

 formance. 



But the Green Woodpecker does not confine its foraging 

 to trees. Part of its provender it gets out of the ground, 

 ants especially, which I believe to be its favourite food. 

 The length and structure of its tongue would seem to in- 

 dicate an adaptation for this, the organ being of cylin- 

 drical shape, and capable of protrusion fully two inches 

 beyond the tip of the beak. The bird, moreover, has the 

 power of secreting a viscous substance from its throat 

 glands, which, coating the tongue, causes the insects to 

 adhere to it, till they are drawn in between the mandibles 

 and so transferred to the stomach. It is just so with the 

 ant-bears, or ant-eaters, of tropical America and Africa, 

 as also certain other species of birds, formed for feeding 

 on these insects. 



While on the ground, the Green Woodpecker pro- 

 gresses in a fashion sui generis. Its movements from place 

 to place are made in a series of hops, the head held high, 

 the body erect, as when climbing the trunk of a tree, and 

 the tail slightly spread, touching the earth, not trailing, 

 but as if having a hold on it for the sake of steadiness. 



I have had frequent and excellent opportunities of 

 observing this bird's behaviour when after the formicce, 

 and at all seasons, winter and summer. On my lawn, and 

 near the house, these insects abound, so much as to be a 

 troublesome pest, and there the Picus viridis often comes 

 in quest of them. In , my note-book I find record of 

 several such visits, and during most months of the year ; 

 but one paid me in the early part of February, 1879, has 

 attached to it a detailed description of the modun operandi. 

 There was a pair of the birds, the Green Woodpecker 

 being of conjugal habits, and as the scene was not twenty 



