BRITISH BIRDS* 
114 
THE WOODPECKERS . 
Of thefe only three or four kinds are found iri 
thefe kingdoms. Their chara&ers are ftriking and 
their manners fingular. The bill is large, ftrong, 
and fitted for its employment; the end of it is 
formed like a wedge, with which it pierces the 
bark of trees and bores into the wood, in which its 
food is lodged. Its neck is fliort and thick, and 
furnilhed with powerful mufcles, which enable it 
to {trike with fuch force as to be heard at a confi- 
derable difiance ; its tongue is long and taper ; at 
the end of it there is a hard bony fubftance, which 
penetrates into the crevices of trees, and extracts 
the infers and their eggs, which are lodged there ; 
the tail confifts of ten ftiff, {harp-pointed feathers 
bent inwards, by which it fecures itfelf on the 
trunks of trees while in fearch of food; for this 
purpofe its feet are ihort and thick, and its toes, 
which are placed two forward and two backward, 
are armed with ftrong hooked claws, by which it 
clings firmly and creeps up and down in all direc- 
tions. M. Buffon, with his ufual warmth of ima- 
gination, thus defer ibes the feemingly dull and fo- 
litary life of the Woodpecker. 
“ Of all the birds which earn their fubfiftence by 
a fpoil, none leads a life fo laborious and painful 
u as the Woodpecker: Nature has condemned it 
u to inceffant toil and flavery. While others free- 
