NOTES TO THE 
South America, but the tongue of the woodpecker presents a 
structure not visible in the ant-eater, for on carefully examining 
the top of the woodpecker's tongue, we find that it ends in a 
sharp horny point, and that on each side of this sharp horny 
point there are some small barbs directed backwards, reminding 
me somewhat -cf the "snatch" made of fish hooks which is used 
for poaching salmon. l\ow we find that the hyoid, or 
tongue-bone, which works this marvellous tongue, extends not 
only as far back as the base of the head, as is the case with most 
birds, but is actually prolonged right over the top of the head,, and 
is firmly fixed into the skull, at the base of the beak, on the 
right side. The reader can easily realize this curious structure 
if he imagines the tongue-bone in his own head to be extended 
backwards on each side of the head to the poll. These two 
bones then run parallel with each other in a depression on the 
top of the skull, and are finally inserted into the bone of the 
forehead just above the right eye. This tongue of the wood- 
pecker, therefore, may be said to be worked by two highly 
elastic steel springs, and I have no doubt that in life the bird 
is enabled to protrude and draw back his tongue with amazing- 
celerity. 
But I have not yet done ^vith the numerous mechanisms in the 
head of the Avood]3ecker ; a further ingenious contrivance was, 
I believe, first described by ]\Ir. Bowman, of Wrexham, who 
writes thus : — 
" In the back part of the palate," he says, " is inserted a 
longitudinal groove, ^^'hich tapers to a point outwards, and is 
i'ringed with stiff hairs pointing towards the throat. Without 
this provision it would be difficult to conceive how the bird 
could so easily and speedily detach its food from the barbs of the 
tongue as it is known to do, particularly as the groove in the 
palate is placed much too far backward for the tip of the former, 
in the natural position, even to reach it, and even if it could draw 
it in so far the peculiar direction of the hairs would prevent their 
action. We must, therefore, infer (though the motion is per- 
formed with such celerity that we can never expect to observe 
it), that the tongue is taken into the mouth in a reflected posi- 
tion, like that of the frog, and that the tip of it is drawn through 
the groove, the sharp hairs of which scrape off the insects from 
the barbs, while the deglutition is avssisted by the tubercles on 
the surface of the tongue during the first part of the operation of 
drawing it into the mouth." 
The stomach of my ^woodpecker is simply a fleshy bag, and I 
was pleased to find it full of food. On opening this bag -like 
stomach, I discovered a mass of a black-looking substance, which 
