Organs of Nutrition 



123 



possesses a tongue of remarkable length, even for a wood- 

 pecker, and while feeding, the bird will often shoot it 



FIG. 95. Head of Flicker, showing tongue slightly protruding 



out two or three inches beyond the tip of the beak. 

 Easily and without a hitch it disappears again, appa- 



FIG. 96. Skull of Flicker, showing rear branches of the hyoid bone, curving up 

 over the skull and down into the right nostril. The front of the tongue is 

 visible beyond the tip of the beak. 



rently down the very throat of the bird. If we carefully 

 remove the skin from the skull of a dead Flicker, the 

 magic will become plain. When we spoke of the skull 



