THE NUTHATCH AND WOODPECKER. 257 



places where their presence is quite unsuspected, except, per- 

 haps, by those who can recognise the signs which they have left 

 behind them. 



There is a common saying to the effect that " a carpenter is 

 known by his chips/' and the proverb is equally true of the 

 Nuthatch and the Woodpecker. Nutshells scientifically split 

 asunder, and jammed into the rough bark of a tree-trunk, betray 

 at once the Nuthatch to the eye of a naturalist ; while an accu- 

 mulation of shattered bark, splinters of wood, and similar debris 

 announces, in equally bold type, that a Woodpecker has been at 

 work. 



The power of the Woodpecker's beak may be gathered from 

 Wilson's well-known account of an Ivory -billed Woodpecker, 

 which he had wounded and was trying to rear. While staying 

 at an hotel, he locked the bird in his room, and, on returning 

 within an hour, found an astonishing state of things. 



" He had mounted along the side of the window, nearly as 

 high as the ceiling, a little below which he had begun to break 

 through. The bed was covered with large pieces of plaster, 

 the lath was exposed for at least fifteen inches square, and a hole 

 large enough to admit the fist opened to the weather boards, 

 so that in less than another hour he would certainly have suc- 

 ceeded in making his way through. 



" I now tied a string round his leg, and, fastening it to the 

 table, again left him. I wished to preserve his life, and had 

 gone off in search of suitable food for him. As I re-ascended 

 the stairs, I heard him again at work, and on entering had the 

 mortification to perceive that he had almost ruined the mahogany 

 table to which he was fastened, and on which he had wreaked 

 his whole vengeance." 



The beak of the Woodpecker was employed upon its new 

 master quite as forcibly as upon walls and furniture, but 

 Wilson was of too generous a nature to resent his injuries, and 

 lamented sincerely when the bird died. 



The reader will probably observe that the Hammer which 

 has been given as an illustration of this principle is the ordi- 

 nary geologist's hammer, and that it has been selected because 

 its head is so formed that one end can be employed for the 

 usual tasks of a hammer, while the other end, with its slight 

 curve and sharp point, is., in fact, a sort of pickaxe, and used 



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