OUR HOME BIRDS. 
75 
“ The food of the golden-winged woodpecker is of 
various kinds, and farmers accuse him of being much 
too partial to Indian corn just when it is in the con- 
dition known as ‘ roasting ears.’ He does make very 
frequent visits to the corn-field about this time, and 
the indignant farmer is frequently seen following him 
with his gun. He is also fond of cherries and the 
berries of the sour gum ; but, in his estimation, the 
most delicate luxury of all is a young ant. His bill 
is admirably fitted for procuring this food ; he digs 
up with it, as with a long sharp pickaxe, the hillocks 
which these insects rear with such patience and in- 
dustry, and, breaking unceremoniously through the 
walls of their dwellings, gobbles up whole families 
without the slightest compunction.” 
“ What a dreadful bird !” exclaimed Edith in dis- 
gust. “ He is very pretty ; but pretty as he is, I 
don’t like him at all.” 
“A little girl that eats lambs and chickens needn’t 
talk,” replied Malcolm. “ Don’t she do that, Miss 
Harson ?” 
“ Not whole ones, exactly,” said the governess, pat- 
ting her little pupil’s distressed face ; “ and it does 
sound dreadful to read of Mr. Woodpecker’s burst- 
ing into the houses of these worthy little insects and 
devouring them in such a wholesale fashion. — But he 
is only following an instinct, dear, which God has 
