226 
(Figure 241 f). The hyoid or tongue bones are so long that in the normal 
position of rest they wind over the base of the skull along the crown and in 
some species penetrate the nostrils beneath the bill-sheath and finally rest 
their ends near the tip of the bill. As a further aid, large salivary],' glands 
secrete a sticky fluid for the tongue, to which small insects stick and are 
caught as with birdlime. A few species, for example the Sapsuckers, 
have the tip of the tongue frayed out into a sort of brush, that is evidently 
used in gathering up sap (Figure 241 e). 
w 
Figure 241 
Characteristic details of Woodpeckers. 
a, chisel-shaped bill. c, three-toed foot. e, tongue tip of sapsucker (greatly enlarged). 
b, stiff tail. of pointed feathers, d, four-toed foot. .tongue tip of typical woodpecker (greatly 
reduced). 
Economic Status. Of the general usefulness of the Woodpeckers, 
with the exception of the Sapsuckers, there can be little doubt. They 
are almost entirely insectivorous. They pursue wood-boring grubs by 
drilling holes in even apparently healthy though really infested trees and 
are, therefore, beneficial, not harmful. 
393. Hairy Woodpecker (Including Northern, Rocky Mountain, Queen Char- 
lotte Island, Sitka, and Harris’ Hairy Woodpeckers). Dryobates vUlosus. L, 9-40. 
Plate XXXIII B. A black and white Woodpecker, the only other colour on it is 
in the two bright red nape spots on the male. Near the west coast, the whites may be 
slightly, to heavily, tinged with smoky brown. 
Distinctions. With its sharply contrasted black and white, or black and smoky white, 
most likely to be confused with its smaller relative, the Downy Woodpecker, which par- 
allels it in all its plumages, and of which it is a larger edition. An additional difference 
is the outer tail feathers, which, in the Hairy, are solid white, instead of being barred with 
black (Figure 241 b, compare with Plate XXXIV A). 
