WOODPECKERS. 
181 
being pressed against the tree^ support the bird when climb- 
ing. The feet have, with but few exceptions, four toes; 
two of which are directed forwards, and two backwards. 
This family contains a very numerous assemblage of birds, 
which are very widely distributed over the world, the Aus- 
tralian continent alone not containing any species of true 
woodpecker. The food of the woodpeckers consists chiefly 
of the grubs and pupse of insects, which they find in de- 
caying trees. Their long spine-furnished tongue can be 
pushed out far beyond the end of the bill into chinks 
in the bark, or holes ; and, in addition to the barbs at the 
end, it is plentifully supplied with mucus by large salivary 
glands, so that the insects and larvse are either raked up by 
it, or stick to the glutinous secretion. They occasionally 
eat seeds and berries of various kinds ; but their stomach 
has no grinding powers, so that seeds swallowed entire pass 
through them undigested. "Woodpeckers are solitary birds, 
laying their eggs in holes, which they dig or find in rotten 
trees; they lay few eggs, and the colour of them is for 
the most part white. One of the chief and largest of the 
family is the Ivory-billed "Woodpecker of America (Plate 
XIII. fig. 3), whose history has been recorded by Alexander 
Wilson in his ^American Ornithology.^ Nature seems 
