316 GREEN WOODPECKER. Glass II. 



give from the observations of our illustrious 

 countryman Mr. Ray* 



These birds feed entirely on insects, and 

 their principal action is that of climbing up and 

 down the bodies or boughs of trees ; for the first 

 purpose they are provided with a long slender 

 tongue, armed with a sharp bony end barbed on 

 each side, which by the means of a curious ap- 

 paratus of musclesf they can exert at pleasure, 

 darting it to a great length into the clefts of the 

 bark, transfixing and drawing out the insects 

 that lurk there. They are reckoned great ene- 

 mies to bees according to Frisch. 

 Nest. They make their nests in the hollows of trees : 



the entrance to which is as exact a circle, as if 

 it had been formed by the assistance of a com- 

 pass. They will work their way for the space 

 of nearly two feet, and lay their eggs, in the 

 chamber at the extremity on the bare wood. 

 The number of their eggs, which are of a beau- 

 tiful transparent white, amounts to seven at lest, 

 for I have seen so many of their young taken 

 out of a single nest; this was on June 12, 

 1794. They will, before they can fly, appear 

 out of their hollows, and climb up and down the 



* Ray on the Creation, p. 143. 



f Phil. Trans. Martins ulridg. V. p. 55. plate 2. 



