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BY TEE WAYSIDE 
19 
THE WOODPECKERS 
Everyone knows a woodpecker; the 
very name describes the bird beyond a 
doubt. And indeed it is a very good 
| name to apply to this family of birds. 
With the typical woodpeckers, such as 
| tlie downy and the redhead, there is 
intimately associated the picture of a 
; bird clinging to the bark of a tree and 
at the bark, but they seldom, if ever, 
use their bill as a chisel, and that is 
what a woodpecker’s bill is. The next 
time you see a woodpecker, especially 
if it be a downy or a hairy woodpecker, 
notice, if you have not already done so, 
that the bill is broad at its base, then 
tapers off to a blunt point; the whole 
i 
1 
DOWNY WOODPECKER 
striking powerful blows with its bill. 
Has it ever occurred to you that this is 
a most unusual performance? There 
are, to be sure, some other birds which 
climb over the bark of trees and some 
of these are perhaps a little more adept 
at it than the woodpeckers, but these 
are few in number. There are also 
some birds that do not hesitate to peck 
appears a solid, substantial instrument 
built for hard usage. 
As a matter of fact, ornithologists 
can trace certain features of the wood¬ 
pecker’s anatomy directly back to the 
vigor with which the bird uses its bill. 
It is found that in the family of wood¬ 
peckers more than in any other family 
(Continued on page 23.) 
