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diff --git a/35062.txt b/35062.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..02e05ff --- /dev/null +++ b/35062.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3715 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Woodpeckers, by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Woodpeckers + +Author: Fannie Hardy Eckstorm + +Release Date: January 25, 2011 [EBook #35062] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOODPECKERS *** + + + + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Steve Read and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + + THE WOODPECKERS + + BY + + FANNIE HARDY ECKSTORM + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + +[Illustration] + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + 1901 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY FANNIE HARDY ECKSTORM + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_To_ MY FATHER MR. MANLY HARDY _A Lifelong Naturalist_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + FOREWORD: THE RIDDLERS 1 + + I. HOW TO KNOW A WOODPECKER 4 + + II. HOW THE WOODPECKER CATCHES A GRUB 9 + + III. HOW THE WOODPECKER COURTS HIS MATE 15 + + IV. HOW THE WOODPECKER MAKES A HOUSE 20 + + V. HOW A FLICKER FEEDS HER YOUNG 24 + + VI. FRIEND DOWNY 28 + + VII. PERSONA NON GRATA. (YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER) 33 + + VIII. EL CARPINTERO. (CALIFORNIAN WOODPECKER) 46 + + IX. A RED-HEADED COUSIN. (RED-HEADED WOODPECKER) 55 + + X. A STUDY OF ACQUIRED HABITS 60 + + XI. THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS BILL 68 + + XII. THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS FOOT 77 + + XIII. THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS TAIL 86 + + XIV. THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS TONGUE 99 + + XV. HOW EACH WOODPECKER IS FITTED FOR HIS OWN + KIND OF LIFE 104 + + XVI. THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN 110 + + APPENDIX 113 + + A. KEY TO THE WOODPECKERS OF NORTH AMERICA 114 + + B. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE WOODPECKERS OF + NORTH AMERICA 117 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + Flicker (colored) _Frontispiece_ + + Boring Larva 10 + + Indian Spear 12 + + Solomon Islander's Spear 13 + + Downy Woodpecker (colored) _facing_ 28 + + Bark showing Work of Sapsucker 34 + + Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (colored) _facing_ 34 + + Trunk of Tree showing Work of Californian Woodpecker 47 + + Californian Woodpecker (colored) _facing_ 48 + + Red-headed Woodpecker (colored) _facing_ 56 + + Head of the Lewis's Woodpecker 59 + + Head of Ivory-billed Woodpecker 70 + + Foot of Woodpecker 77 + + Diagram of Right Foot 79 + + Foot of Three-toed Woodpecker 80 + + Tail of Hairy Woodpecker 86 + + Tails of Brown Creeper and Chimney Swift 87 + + Middle Tail Feathers of Flicker, Ivory-billed + Woodpecker, and Hairy Woodpecker 89 + + Diagram of Curvature of Tails of Woodpeckers 90 + + Patterns of Tails 91 + + Under Side of Middle Tail Feather of + Ivory-billed Woodpecker 97 + + Tongue of Hairy Woodpecker 99 + + Tongue-bones of Flicker 100 + + Skull of Woodpecker, showing Bones of Tongue 101 + + Hyoids of Sapsucker and Golden-fronted Woodpecker 102 + + Diagram of Head of a Flicker 113 + +_The colored illustrations are by Louis Agassiz Fuertes. + The text cuts are from drawings by John L. Ridgway._ + + + + +THE WOODPECKERS + + + + +FOREWORD: THE RIDDLERS + + +Long ago in Greece, the legend runs, a terrible monster called the +Sphinx used to waylay travelers to ask them riddles: whoever could not +answer these she killed, but the man who did answer them killed her and +made an end of her riddling. + +To-day there is no Sphinx to fear, yet the world is full of unguessed +riddles. No thoughtful man can go far afield but some bird or flower or +stone bars his way with a question demanding an answer; and though many +men have been diligently spelling out the answers for many years, and we +for the most part must study the answers they have proved, and must +reply in their words, yet those shrewd old riddlers, the birds and +flowers and bees, are always ready for a new victim, putting their heads +together over some new enigma to bar the road to knowledge till that, +too, shall be answered; so that other men's learning does not always +suffice. So much of a man's pleasure in life, so much of his power, +depends on his ability to silence these persistent questioners, that +this little book was written with the hope of making clearer the kind of +questions Dame Nature asks, and the way to get correct answers. + +This is purposely a _little_ book, dealing only with a single group of +birds, treating particularly only some of the commoner species of that +group, taking up only a few of the problems that present themselves to +the naturalist for solution, and aiming rather to make the reader +_acquainted with_ the birds than _learned about_ them. + +The woodpeckers were selected in preference to any other family because +they are patient under observation, easily identified, resident in all +parts of the country both in summer and in winter, and because more than +any other birds they leave behind them records of their work which may +be studied after the birds have flown. The book provides ample means for +identifying every species and subspecies of woodpecker known in North +America, though only five of the commonest and most interesting species +have been selected for special study. At least three of these five +should be found in almost every part of the country. The Californian +woodpecker is never seen in the East, nor the red-headed in the far +West, but the downy and the hairy are resident nearly everywhere, and +some species of the flickers and sapsuckers, if not always the ones +chosen for special notice, are visitors in most localities. + +Look for the woodpeckers in orchards and along the edges of thickets, +among tangles of wild grapes and in patches of low, wild berries, upon +which they often feed, among dead trees and in the track of forest +fires. Wherever there are boring larvae, beetles, ants, grasshoppers, the +fruit of poison-ivy, dogwood, june-berry, wild cherry or wild grapes, +woodpeckers may be confidently looked for if there are any in the +neighborhood. Be patient, persistent, wide-awake, sure that you see what +you think you see, careful to remember what you have seen, studious to +compare your observations, and keen to hear the questions propounded +you. If you do this seven years and a day, you will earn the name of +Naturalist; and if you travel the road of the naturalist with curious +patience, you may some day become as famous a riddle-reader as was that +Oedipus, the king of Thebes, who slew the Sphinx. + + + + +I + +HOW TO KNOW A WOODPECKER + + +The woodpecker is the easiest of all birds to recognize. Even if +entirely new to you, you may readily decide whether a bird is a +woodpecker or not. + +The woodpecker is always striking and is often gay in color. He is +usually noisy, and his note is clear and characteristic. His shape and +habits are peculiar, so that whenever you see a bird clinging to the +side of a tree "as if he had been thrown at it and stuck," you may +safely call him a woodpecker. Not that all birds which cling to the bark +of trees are woodpeckers,--for the chickadees, the crested titmice, the +nuthatches, the brown creepers, and a few others like the kinglets and +some wrens and wood-warblers more or less habitually climb up and down +the tree-trunks; but these do it with a pretty grace wholly unlike the +woodpecker's awkward, cling-fast way of holding on. As the largest of +these is smaller than the smallest woodpecker, and as none of them +(excepting only the tiny kinglets) ever shows the patch of yellow or +scarlet which always marks the head of the male woodpecker, and which +sometimes adorns his mate, there is no danger of making mistakes. + +The nuthatches are the only birds likely to be confused with +woodpeckers, and these have the peculiar habit of traveling down a +tree-trunk with their heads pointing to the ground. A woodpecker never +does this; he may move down the trunk of the tree he is working on, but +he will do it by hopping backward. A still surer sign of the woodpecker +is the way he sits upon his tail, using it to brace him. No other birds +except the chimney swift and the little brown creeper ever do this. A +sure mark, also, is his feet, which have two toes turned forward and two +turned backward. We find this arrangement in no other North American +birds except the cuckoos and our one native parroquet. However, there is +one small group of woodpeckers which have but three toes, and these are +the only North American land-birds that do not have four well-developed +toes. + +In coloration the woodpeckers show a strong family likeness. Except in +some young birds, the color is always brilliant and often is gaudy. +Usually it shows much clear black and white, with dashes of scarlet or +yellow about the head. Sometimes the colors are "solid," as in the +red-headed woodpecker; sometimes they lie in close bars, as in the +red-bellied species; sometimes in spots and stripes, as in the downy and +hairy; but there is always a _contrast_, never any blending of hues. The +red or yellow is laid on in well-defined patches--square, oblong, or +crescentic--upon the crown, the nape, the jaws, or the throat; or else +in stripes or streaks down the sides of the head and neck, as in the +logcock, or pileated woodpecker. + +There is no rule about the color markings of the sexes, as in some +families of birds. Usually the female lacks all the bright markings of +the male; sometimes, as in the logcock, she has them but in more +restricted areas; sometimes, as in the flickers, she has all but one of +the male's color patches; and in a few species, as the red-headed and +Lewis's woodpeckers, the two sexes are precisely alike in color. In the +black-breasted woodpecker, sometimes called Williamson's sapsucker, the +male and female are so totally different that they were long described +and named as different birds. It sometimes happens that a young female +will show the color marks of the male, but will retain them only the +first year. + +Though the woodpeckers cling to the trunks of trees, they are not +exclusively climbing birds. Some kinds, like the flickers, are quite as +frequently found on the ground, wading in the grass like meadowlarks. +Often we may frighten them from the tangled vines of the frost grape and +the branches of wild cherry trees, or from clumps of poison-ivy, whither +they come to eat the fruit. The red-headed woodpecker is fond of sitting +on fence posts and telegraph poles; and both he and the flicker +frequently alight on the roofs of barns and houses and go pecking and +pattering over the shingles. The sapsuckers and several other kinds will +perch on dead limbs, like a flycatcher, on the watch for insects; the +flickers, and more rarely other kinds, will sit crosswise of a limb +instead of crouching lengthwise of it, as is the custom with +woodpeckers. + +All these points you will soon learn. You will become familiar with the +form, the flight, and the calls of the different woodpeckers; you will +learn not only to know them by name, but to understand their characters; +they will become your acquaintances, and later on your friends. + +This heavy bird, with straight, chisel bill and sharp-pointed +tail-feathers; with his short legs and wide, flapping wings, his +unmusical but not disagreeable voice, and his heavy, undulating, +business-like flight, is distinctly bourgeois, the type of a bird +devoted to business and enjoying it. No other bird has so much work to +do all the year round, and none performs his task with more energy and +sense. The woodpecker makes no aristocratic pretensions, puts on none of +the coy graces and affectations of the professional singer; even his gay +clothes fit him less jauntily than they would another bird. He is +artisan to the backbone,--a plain, hard-working, useful citizen, +spending his life in hammering holes in anything that appears to need a +hole in it. Yet he is neither morose nor unsocial. There is a vein of +humor in him, a large reserve of mirth and jollity. We see little of it +except in the spring, and then for a time all the laughter in him +bubbles up; he becomes uproarious in his glee, and the melody which he +cannot vent in song he works out in the channels of his trade, filling +the woodland with loud and harmonious rappings. Above all other birds he +is the friend of man, and deserves to have the freedom of the fields. + + + + +II + +HOW THE WOODPECKER CATCHES A GRUB + + +Did you ever see a hairy woodpecker strolling about a tree for what he +could pick up? + +There is a _whur-r-rp_ of gay black and white wings and the flash of a +scarlet topknot as, with a sharp cry, he dashes past you, strikes the +limb solidly with both feet, and instantly sidles behind it, from which +safe retreat he keeps a sharp black eye fixed upon your motions. If you +make friends with him by keeping quiet, he will presently forgive you +for being there and hop to your side of the limb, pursuing his ordinary +work in the usual way, turning his head from side to side, inspecting +every crevice, and picking up whatever looks appetizing. Any knot or +little seam in the bark is twice scanned; in such places moths and +beetles lay their eggs. Little cocoons are always dainty morsels, and +large cocoons contain a feast. The butterfly-hunter who is hoping to +hatch out some fine cecropia moths knows well that a large proportion of +all the cocoons he discovers will be empty. The hairy woodpecker has +been there before him, and has torn the chrysalis out of its silken +cradle. For this the farmer should thank him heartily, even if the +butterfly-hunter does not, for the cecropia caterpillar is destructive. + +But sometimes, on the fair bark of a smooth limb, the woodpecker stops, +listens, taps, and begins to drill. He works with haste and energy, +laying open a deep hole. For what? An apple-tree borer was there cutting +out the life of the tree. The farmer could see no sign of him; neither +could the woodpecker, but he could hear the strong grub down in his +little chamber gnawing to make it longer, or, frightened by the heavy +footsteps on his roof, scrambling out of the way. + +[Illustration: Boring larva.] + +It is easy to hear the borer at work in the tree. When a pine forest has +been burned and the trees are dead but still standing, there will be +such a crunching and grinding of borers eating the dead wood that it can +be heard on all sides many yards away. Even a single borer can sometimes +be heard distinctly by putting the ear to the tree. Sound travels much +farther through solids than it does through air; notice how much farther +you can hear a railroad train by the click of the rails than by the +noise that comes on the air. Even our dull ears can detect the woodworm, +but we cannot locate him. How, then, is the woodpecker to do what we +cannot do? + +Doubtless experience teaches him much, but one observer suggests that +the woodpecker places the grub by the sense of touch. He says he has +seen the red-headed woodpecker drop his wings till they trailed along +the branch, as if to determine where the vibrations in the wood were +strongest, and thus to decide where the grub was boring. But no one else +appears to have noticed that woodpeckers are in the habit of trailing +their wings as they drill for grubs. It would be a capital study for one +to attempt to discover whether the woodpecker locates his grub by +feeling, or whether he does it by hearing alone. Only one should be sure +he is looking for grubs and not for beetles' eggs, nor for ants, nor for +caterpillars. By the energy with which he drills, and the size of the +hole left after he has found his tidbit, one can decide whether he was +working for a borer. + +But when the borer has been located, he has yet to be captured. There +are many kinds of borers. Some channel a groove just beneath the bark +and are easily taken; but others tunnel deep into the wood. I measured +such a hole the other day, and found it was more than eight inches long +and larger than a lead-pencil, bored through solid rock-maple wood. The +woodpecker must sink a hole at right angles to this channel and draw the +big grub out through his small, rough-sided hole. You would be +surprised, if you tried to do the same with a pair of nippers the size +of the woodpecker's bill, to find how strong the borer is, how he can +buckle and twist, how he braces himself against the walls of his house. +Were your strength no greater than the woodpecker's, the task would be +much harder. Indeed, a large grub would stand a good chance of getting +away but for one thing, the woodpecker _spears_ him, and thereby saves +many a dinner for himself. + +[Illustration: Indian spear.] + +Here is a primitive Indian fish-spear, such as the Penobscots used. To +the end of a long pole two wooden jaws are tied loosely enough to spring +apart a little under pressure, and midway between them, firmly driven +into the end of the pole, is a point of iron. When a fish was struck, +the jaws sprung apart under the force of the blow, guiding the iron +through the body of the fish, which was held securely in the hollow +above, that just fitted around his sides, and by the point itself. + +[Illustration: Solomon Islander's spear.] + +The tool with which the woodpecker fishes for a grub is very much the +same. His mandibles correspond to the two movable jaws. They are +knife-edged, and the lower fits exactly inside the upper, so that they +give a very firm grip. In addition, the upper one is movable. All birds +can move the upper mandible, because it is hinged to the skull. (Watch a +parrot some day, if you do not believe it.) A medium-sized woodpecker, +like the Lewis's, can elevate his upper mandible at least a quarter of +an inch without opening his mouth at all. This enables him to draw his +prey through a smaller hole than would be needed if he must open his +jaws along their whole length. Between the mandibles is the +sharp-pointed tongue, which can be thrust entirely through a grub, +holding him impaled. Unlike the Indian's spear-point, the woodpecker's +tongue is barbed heavily on both sides, and it is extensile. As a tool +it resembles the Solomon Islander's spear. A medium-sized woodpecker can +dart his tongue out two inches or more beyond the tip of his bill. A New +Bedford boy might tell us, and very correctly, that the woodpecker +_harpoons_ his grub, just as a whaleman harpoons a whale. If the grub +tries to back off into his burrow, out darts the long, barbed tongue and +spears him. Then it drags him along the crooked tunnel and into the +narrow shaft picked by the woodpecker, where the strong jaws seize and +hold him firmly. + + + + +III + +HOW THE WOODPECKER COURTS HIS MATE + + +Other birds woo their mates with songs, but the woodpecker has no voice +for singing. He cannot pour out his soul in melody and tell his love his +devotion in music. How do songless birds express their emotions? Some by +grotesque actions and oglings, as the horned owl, and some by frantic +dances, as the sharp-tailed grouse, woo and win their mates; but the +amorous woodpecker, not excepting the flickers, which also woo by +gestures, whacks a piece of seasoned timber, and rattles off +interminable messages according to the signal code set down for +woodpeckers' love affairs. He is the only instrumental performer among +the birds; for the ruffed grouse, though he drums, has no drum. + +There is no cheerier spring sound, in our belated Northern season, than +the quick, melodious rappings of the sapsucker from some dead ash limb +high above the meadow. It is the best performance of its kind: he knows +the capabilities of his instrument, and gets out of it all the music +there is in it. Most if not all woodpeckers drum occasionally, but +drumming is the special accomplishment of the sapsucker. He is easily +first. In Maine, where they are abundant, they make the woods in +springtime resound with their continual rapping. Early in April, before +the trees are green with leaf, or the pussy-willows have lost their +silky plumpness, when the early round-leafed yellow violet is cuddling +among the brown, dead leaves, I hear the yellow-bellied sapsucker along +the borders of the trout stream that winds down between the mountains. +The dead branch of an elm-tree is his favorite perch, and there, +elevated high above all the lower growth, he sits rolling forth a flood +of sound like the tremolo of a great organ. Now he plays +staccato,--detached, clear notes; and now, accelerating his time, he +dashes through a few bars of impetuous hammerings. The woods reecho with +it; the mountains give it faintly back. Beneath him the ruffed grouse +paces back and forth on his favorite mossy log before he raises the +palpitating whirr of his drumming. A chickadee digging in a rotten limb +pauses to spit out a mouthful of punky wood and the brown _Vanessa_, +edged with yellow, first butterfly of the season, flutters by on +rustling wings. So spring arrives in Maine, ushered in by the reveille +of the sapsucker. + +So ambitious is the sapsucker of the excellence of his performance that +no instrument but the best will satisfy him. He is always experimenting, +and will change his anvil for another as soon as he discovers one of +superior resonance. They say he tries the tin pails of the maple-sugar +makers to see if these will not give him a clearer note; that he drums +on tin roofs and waterspouts till he loosens the solder and they come +tumbling down. But usually he finds nothing so near his liking as a +hard-wood branch, dead and barkless, the drier, the harder, the thinner, +the finer grained, so much the better for his uses. + +Deficient as they are in voice, the woodpeckers do not lack a musical +ear. Mr. Burroughs tells us that a downy woodpecker of his acquaintance +used to change his key by tapping on a knot an inch or two from his +usual drumming place, thereby obtaining a higher note. Alternating +between the two places, he gave to his music the charm of greater +variety. The woodpeckers very quickly discover the superior conductivity +of metals. In parts of the country where woodpeckers are more abundant +than good drumming trees, a tin roof proves an almost irresistible +attraction. A lightning-rod will sometimes draw them farther than it +would an electric bolt; and a telegraph pole, with its tinkling glasses +and ringing wires, gives them great satisfaction. If men did not put +their singing poles in such public places, their music would be much +more popular with the woodpeckers; but even now the birds often venture +on the dangerous pastime and hammer you out a concord of sweet sounds +from the mellow wood-notes, the clear peal of the glass, and the ringing +overtones of the wires. + +The flicker often telegraphs his love by tapping either on a forest tree +or on some loose board of a barn or outhouse; but he has other ways of +courting his lady. On fine spring mornings, late in April, I have seen +them on a horizontal bough, the lady sitting quietly while her lover +tried to win her approval by strange antics. Quite often there are two +males displaying their charms in open rivalry, but once I saw them when +the field was clear. If fine clothes made a gentleman, this brave wooer +would have been first in all the land: for his golden wings and tail +showed their glittering under side as he spread them; his scarlet +headdress glowed like fire; his rump was radiantly white, not to speak +of the jetty black of his other ornaments and the beautiful +ground-colors of his body. He danced before his lady, showing her all +these beauties, and perhaps boasting a little of his own good looks, +though she was no less beautiful. He spread his wings and tail for her +inspection; he bowed, to show his red crescent; he bridled, he stepped +forward and back and sidewise with deep bows to his mistress, coaxing +her with the mellowest and most enticing _co-wee-tucks_, which no doubt +in his language meant "Oh, promise me," laughing now and then his jovial +_wick-a-wick-a-wick-a-wick-a_, either in glee or nervousness. It was all +so very silly--and so very nice! I wonder how it all came out. Did she +promise him? Or did she find a gayer suitor? + + + + +IV + +HOW THE WOODPECKER MAKES A HOUSE + + +All woodpeckers make their houses in the wood of trees, either the trunk +or one of the branches. Almost the only exceptions to this rule are +those that live in the treeless countries of the West. In the torrid +deserts of Arizona and the Southwest, some species are obliged to build +in the thorny branches of giant cacti, which there grow to an enormous +size. In the treeless plains to the northward, a few individuals, for +lack of anything so suitable as the cactus, dig holes in clay banks, or +even lay their eggs upon the surface of the prairie. In a country where +chimney swallows nest in deserted houses, and sand martins burrow in the +sides of wells, who wonders at the flicker's thinking that the side of a +haystack, the hollow of a wheel-hub, or the cavity under an old +ploughshare, is an ideal home? But in wooded countries the woodpeckers +habitually nest in trees. The only exceptions I know are a few flickers' +holes in old posts, and a few instances where flickers have pecked +through the weatherboarding of a house to nest in the space between the +walls. + +But because a bird nests in a hole in a tree, it is not necessarily a +woodpecker. The sparrow-hawk, the house sparrow, the tree swallow, the +bluebird, most species of wrens, and several of the smaller species of +owls nest either in natural cavities in trees or in deserted +woodpeckers' holes. The chickadees, the crested titmice, and the +nuthatches dig their own holes after the same pattern as the +woodpecker's. However, the large, round holes were all made by +woodpeckers, and of those under two inches in diameter, our friend Downy +made his full share. It is easy to tell who made the hole, for the +different birds have different styles of housekeeping. The chickadees +and nuthatches always build a soft little nest of grass, leaves, and +feathers, while the woodpeckers lay their eggs on a bed of chips, and +carry nothing in from outside. + +Soon after they have mated in the spring, the woodpeckers begin to talk +of housekeeping. First, a tree must be chosen. It may be sound or partly +decayed, one of a clump or solitary; but it is usually dead or +hollow-hearted, and at least partly surrounded by other trees. Sometimes +a limb is chosen, sometimes an upright trunk, and the nest may be from +two feet to one hundred feet from the ground, though most frequently it +will be found not less than ten nor more than thirty feet up. However +odd the location finally occupied, it is likely that it was not the +first one selected. A woodpecker will dig half a dozen houses rather +than occupy an undesirable tenement. It is very common to find their +unfinished holes and the wider-mouthed, shallower pockets which they dig +for winter quarters; for those that spend their winters in the cold +North make a hole to live in nights and cold and stormy days. + +The first step in building is to strike out a circle in the bark as +large as the doorway is to be; that is, from an inch and a half to three +or four inches in diameter according to the size of the woodpecker. It +is nearly always a perfect circle. Try, if you please, to draw freehand +a circle of dots as accurate as that which the woodpecker strikes out +hurriedly with his bill, and see whether it is easy to do as well as he +does. + +If the size and shape of the doorway suit him, the woodpecker scales off +the bark inside his circle of holes and begins his hard work. He seems +to take off his coat and work in his shirtsleeves, so vigorously does he +labor as he clings with his stout toes, braced in position by his +pointed tail. The chips fly out past him, or if they lie in the hole, +he sweeps them out with his bill and pelts again at the same place. The +pair take turns at the work. Who knows how long they work before +resting? Do they take turns of equal length? Does one work more than the +other? A pair of flickers will dig about two inches in a day, the hole +being nearly two and a half inches in diameter. A week or more is +consumed in digging the nest, which, among the flickers, is commonly +from ten to eighteen inches deep. The hole usually runs in horizontally +for a few inches and then curves down, ending in a chamber large enough +to make a comfortable nest for the mother and her babies. + +What a good time the little ones have in their hole! Rain and frost +cannot chill them; no enemy but the red squirrel is likely to disturb +them. There they lie in their warm, dark chamber, looking up at the ray +of light that comes in the doorway, until at last they hear the +scratching of their mother's feet as she alights on the outside of the +tree and clambers up to feed them. What a piping and calling they raise +inside the hole, and how they all scramble up the walls of their chamber +and thrust out their beaks to be fed, till the old tree looks as if it +were blossoming with little woodpeckers' hungry mouths! + + + + +V + +HOW A FLICKER FEEDS HER YOUNG[1] + + +[Footnote 1: Based upon the observations of Mr. William Brewster.] + +As the house of the woodpecker has no windows and the old bird very +nearly fills the doorway when she comes home, it is hard to find out +just how she feeds her little ones. But one of our best naturalists has +had the opportunity to observe it, and has told what he saw. + +A flicker had built a nest in the trunk of a rather small dead tree +which, after the eggs were hatched, was accidentally broken off just at +the entrance hole. This left the whole cavity exposed to the weather; +but it was too late to desert the nest, and impossible to remove the +young birds to another nest. + +When first visited, the five little birds were blind, naked, and +helpless. They were motherless, too. Some one must have killed their +pretty mother; for she never came to feed them, and the father was +taking all the care of his little family. When disturbed the little +birds hissed like snakes, as is the habit of the callow young of +woodpeckers, chickadees, and other birds nesting habitually in holes in +trees. When they were older and their eyes were open, they made a +clatter much like the noise of a mowing-machine, and loud enough to be +heard thirty yards away. + +The father came at intervals of from twenty to sixty minutes to feed the +little ones. He was very shy, and came so quietly that he would be first +seen when he alighted close by with a low little laugh or a subdued but +anxious call to the young. "Here I am again!" he laughed; or "Are you +all right, children?" he called to them. "All right!" they would answer, +clattering in concert like a two-horse mower. + +As soon as they heard him scratching on the tree-trunk, up they would +all clamber to the edge of the nest and hold out their gaping mouths to +be fed. Each one was anxious to be fed first, because there never was +enough to go round. There was always one that, like the little pig of +the nursery tale, "got none." When he came to the nest, the father would +look around a moment, trying to choose the one he wanted to feed first. +Did he always pick out the poor little one that had none the time +before, I wonder? + +After the old bird had made his choice, he would bend over the little +bird and drive his long bill down the youngster's throat as if to run +it through him. Then the little bird would catch hold as tightly as he +could and hang on while his father jerked him up and down for a second +or a second and a half with great rapidity. What was he doing? He was +pumping food from his own stomach into the little one's. Many birds feed +their young in this way. They do not hold the food in their own mouths, +but swallow and perhaps partially digest it, so that it shall be fit for +the tender little stomachs. + +While the woodpecker was pumping in this manner his motions were much +the same as when he drummed, but his tail twitched as rapidly as his +head and his wings quivered. The motion seemed to shake his whole body. + +In two weeks from the time when the little birds were blind, naked, +helpless nestlings they became fully feathered and full grown, able to +climb up to the top of the nest, from which they looked out with +curiosity and interest. At any noise they would slip silently back. A +day or two later they left the old nest and began their journeys. + +No naturalist has been able to tell us whether other woodpeckers than +the golden-winged flicker feed their young in this way; and little is +known of the number of kinds of birds that use this method, but it is +suspected that it is far more common than has ever been determined. If +an old bird is seen to put her bill down a young one's throat and keep +it there even so short a time as a second, it is probable that she is +feeding the little one by regurgitation, that is, by pumping up food +from her own stomach. Any bird seen doing this should be carefully +watched. It has long been known that the domestic pigeon does this, and +the same has been observed a number of times of the ruby-throated +hummingbird. A California lady has taken some remarkable photographs of +the Anna's hummingbird in the act, showing just how it is done. + + + + +VI + +FRIEND DOWNY + + +No better little bird comes to our orchards than our friend the downy +woodpecker. He is the smallest and one of the most sociable of our +woodpeckers,--a little, spotted, black-and-white fellow, precisely like +his larger cousin the hairy, except in having the outer tail-feathers +barred instead of plain. Nearly everything that can be said of one is +equally true of the other on a smaller scale. They look alike, they act +alike, and their nests and eggs are alike in everything but size. + +Downy is the most industrious of birds. He is seldom idle and never in +mischief. As he does not fear men, but likes to live in orchards and in +the neighborhood of fields, he is a good friend to us. On the farm he +installs himself as Inspector of Apple-trees. It is an old and an +honorable profession among birds. The pay is small, consisting only of +what can be picked up, but, as cultivated trees are so infested with +insects that food is always plentiful, and as they have usually a +dead branch suitable to nest in, Downy asks no more. Summer and winter +he works on our orchards. At sunrise he begins, and he patrols the +branches till sunset. He taps on the trunks to see whether he can hear +any rascally borers inside. He inspects every tree carefully in a +thorough and systematic way, beginning low down and following up with a +peek into every crevice and a tap upon every spot that looks suspicious. +If he sees anything which ought not to be there, he removes it at once. + +[Illustration] + +A moth had laid her eggs in a crack in the bark, expecting to hatch out +a fine brood of caterpillars: but Downy ate them all, thus saving a +whole branch from being overrun with caterpillars and left fruitless, +leafless, and dying. A beetle had just deposited her eggs here. Downy +saw her, and took not only the eggs but the beetle herself. Those eggs +would have hatched into boring larvae, which would have girdled and +killed some of the branches, or have burrowed under the bark, causing it +to fall off, or have bored into the wood and, perhaps, have killed the +tree. Nor is the full-grown borer exempt. Downy hears him, pecks a few +strokes, and harpoons him with unerring aim. When Downy has made an +arrest in this way, the prisoner does not escape from the police. Here +is a colony of ants, running up the tree in one line and down in +another, touching each other with their feelers as they pass. A feast +for our friend! He takes both columns, and leaves none to tell the tale. +This is a good deed, too, since ants are of no benefit to fruit-trees +and are very fond of the dead-ripe fruit. + +And Downy is never too busy to listen for borers. They are fine plump +morsels much to his taste, not so sour as ants, nor so hard-shelled as +beetles, nor so insipid as insects' eggs. A good borer is his preferred +dainty. The work he does in catching borers is of incalculable benefit, +for no other bird can take his place. The warblers, the vireos, and some +other birds in summer, the chickadees and nuthatches all the year round, +are helping to eat up the eggs and insects that lie near the surface, +but the only birds equipped for digging deep under the bark and dragging +forth the refractory grubs are the woodpeckers. + +So Downy works at his self-appointed task in our orchards summer and +winter, as regular as a policeman on his beat. But he is much more than +a policeman, for he acts as judge, jury, jailer, and jail. All the +evidence he asks against any insect is to find him loafing about the +premises. "I swallow him first and find out afterwards whether he was +guilty," says Downy with a wink and a nod. + +Most birds do not stay all the year, in the North, at least, and most, +in return for their labors in the spring, demand some portion of the +fruit or grain of midsummer and autumn. Not so Downy. His services are +entirely gratuitous; he works twice as long as most others. He spends +the year with us, no winter ever too severe for him, no summer too hot; +and he never taxes the orchard, nor takes tribute from the berry patch. +Only a quarter of his food is vegetable, the rest being made up of +injurious insects; and the vegetable portion consists entirely of wild +fruits and weed-seeds, nothing that man eats or uses. Downy feeds on the +wild dogwood berries, a few pokeberries, the fruit of the woodbine, and +the seeds of the poison-ivy,--whatever scanty and rather inferior fare +is to be had at Nature's fall and winter table. If in the cold winter +weather we will take pains to hang out a bone with some meat on it, raw +or cooked, or a piece of suet, taking care that it is not salted,--for +few wild birds except the crossbills can eat salted food,--we may see +how he appreciates our thoughtfulness. Shall we grudge him a bone from +our own abundance, or neglect to fasten it firmly out of reach of the +cat and dog? If his cousin the hairy and his neighbor the chickadee +come and eat with him, bid them a hearty welcome. The feast is spread +for all the birds that help men, and friend Downy shall be their host. + + + + +VII + +PERSONA NON GRATA + + +We shall not attempt to deny that Downy has an unprincipled relative. +While it is no discredit, it is a great misfortune to Downy, who is +often murdered merely because he looks a little, a very little, like +this disreputable cousin of his. The real offender is the sapsucker, +that musical genius of whom we have already spoken. + +The popular belief is that every woodpecker is a sapsucker, and that +every hole he digs in a tree is an injury to the tree. We have seen that +every hole Downy digs is a benefit, and now we wish to learn why it is +that the sapsucker's work is any more injurious than other woodpeckers' +holes; how we are to recognize the sapsucker's work; and how much damage +he does. We will do what the scientists often do,--examine the bird's +work and make it tell us the story. There is no danger of hurting the +sapsucker's reputation. The farmer could have no worse opinion of him; +and, though the case has been appealed to the higher courts of science +more than once, where the sapsucker's cause has been eloquently and +ably defended, the verdict has gone against him. Scientists now do not +deny that the sapsucker does harm. But his worst injury is less in the +damage he does to the trees than in the ill-will and suspicion he +creates against woodpeckers which do no harm at all. If you will study +the picture and the descriptions in the Key to the Woodpeckers, you will +be able to recognize the sapsucker and his nearest relatives, whether in +the East or in the West. But all sapsuckers may be known by their pale +yellowish under parts, and by the work they leave behind. As the +yellow-bellied sapsucker is the only one found east of the Rocky +Mountains, we shall speak only of him and his work. + +[Illustration: Work of Sapsucker.] + +Here is a specimen of the yellow-bellied sapsucker's work which I picked +up under the tree from which it had fallen. We do not need to inquire +whether the tree was injured by its falling, for we know that the loss +of sound and healthy bark is always a damage. Was this sound bark? Yes, +because it is still firm and new. The sap in it dried quickly, +showing that neither disease nor worms caused it to fall; it is clean +and hard on the back, showing that it came from a live tree, not from a +dead, rotting log. + +[Illustration] + +How do I know that a bird caused it to fall? The marks are precisely +such as are always left by a woodpecker's bill. How do I know that it +was a sapsucker's work? Because no other woodpecker has the habit which +characterizes the sapsucker, of sinking holes in straight lines. The +sapsuckers drill lines of holes sometimes around and sometimes up and +down the tree-trunk, but almost always in rings or belts about the trunk +or branches. A girdle may be but a single line of holes, or it may +consist of four or five, or more, lines. Sometimes a band will be two +feet wide; and as many as eight hundred holes have been counted on the +trunk of a single tree. Such extensive peckings, however, are to be +expected only on large forest trees. Most fruit and ornamental trees are +girdled a few times about the trunk, and about the principal branches +just below the nodes, or forks. + +Why did the bird dig these holes? There are three things that he might +have obtained,--sap, the inner bark, and boring larvae. Some naturalists +have suggested a fourth as possible,--the insects that would be +attracted by the sap. + +We will see what the piece of bark tells us. It is four and a half +inches long, by an inch and a half wide, and its area of six and three +fourths square inches has forty-four punctures. Does this look as if the +bird were digging grubs? Do borers live in such straight little streets? +The number and arrangement of the holes show that he was not seeking +borers, while the naturalists tell us that he never eats a borer unless +by accident. What did he get? Undoubtedly he pecked away some of the +inner bark. All these holes are much larger on the back side of the +specimen than on the outer surface. While the damp inner bark would +shrink a little on exposure to the air, we know that it could not shrink +as much as this; and investigation has shown that the sapsucker feeds +largely on just such food, for it has been found in his stomach. Two +other possible food-substances remain,--sap and insects. We know that +the sapsucker eats many insects, but it is impossible to prove that he +intended these holes for insect lures. Sap he might have gotten from +them, if he wished it. We know that the white birch is full of excellent +sap, from which can be made a birch candy, somewhat bitter, but nearly +as good as horehound candy. The rock and red maples and the white canoe +birch are the only trees in our Northern forests from which we make +candy. A strong probability that our bird wanted sap is indicated by the +arrangement of the holes. Usually he drills his holes in rings around +the tree-trunk, but in this instance his longest lines of holes are +vertical. If our sapsucker was drilling for sap, he arranged his holes +so that it would almost run into his mouth, lazy bird! + +Our piece of bark has taught us:-- + +That the sapsucker injured this tree. + +That he was not after grubs. + +That he got, and undoubtedly ate, the soft inner bark of the tree. + +That he got, and may have drunk, the sap. + +We could not infer any more from a single instance, but the naturalists +assure us that the bird is in the habit of injuring trees, that he never +eats grubs intentionally, and that he eats too much bark for it to be +regarded as taken accidentally with other food. About the sap they +cannot be so sure, as it digests very quickly. There remain two points +to prove: whether the sapsucker drills his holes for the sake of the +sap, or for insects attracted by the sap, provided that he eats anything +but the inner bark. + +Our little specimen can tell us no more, but two mountain ash trees +which were intimate acquaintances of mine from childhood can go on with +the story. Do not be surprised that I speak of them as friends; the +naturalist who does not make _friends_ of the creatures and plants about +will hear few stories from them. These trees would not tell this tale to +any one but an intimate acquaintance. Let us hear what they have to say +about the sapsucker. + +There are in the garden of my old home two mountain ash trees, +thirty-six years of age, each having grown from a sprout that sprang up +beside an older tree cut down in 1863. They stand not more than two rods +apart; have the same soil, the same amount of sun and rain, the same +exposure to wind, and equal care. During all the years of my childhood +one was a perfectly healthy tree, full of fruit in its season, while the +other bore only scanty crops, and was always troubled with cracked and +scaling bark. To-day the unhealthy tree is more vigorous than ever +before, while its formerly stalwart brother stands a mere wreck of its +former life and beauty. What should be the cause of such a remarkable +change when all conditions of growth have remained the same? + +I admit that there is some internal difference in the trees, for all the +birds tell me of it. One has always borne larger and more abundant fruit +than the other, but this is no reason why the birds should strip all +the berries from that tree before eating any from the other. When we +know that the favorite tree stands directly in front of the windows of a +much-used room and overhangs a frequented garden path, the preference +becomes more marked. But robins, grosbeaks, purple finches, and the +whole berry-eating tribe agree to choose one and neglect the other, and +even the spring migrants will leave the gay red tassels of fruit still +swinging on one tree, to scratch over the leaves and eat the fallen +berries that lie beneath the other. My own taste is not keen in choosing +between bitter berries, but the birds all agree that there is a decided +difference in these trees,--did agree, I should say, for their favorite +is the tree that is dying. Evidently this is a question of taste. It is +interesting to observe that the sapsucker, which was never seen to touch +the fruit of the trees, agrees with the fruit-eating birds. Nearly all +his punctures were in the tree now dying. Is there a difference in the +taste of the sap? Does the taste of the sap affect the taste of the +fruit? Or is it merely a question of quantity? If he comes for sap, he +prefers one tree to the other on the score either of better quality or +greater quantity. + +We will discuss later whether it is sap that he wishes: all that now +concerns us is to note that the internal difference, whatever it is, is +in favor of the tree that is dying; while the only external difference +appears to be the marks left by the sapsucker. While one tree is +sparingly marked by him, the other is tattooed with his punctures, +placed in single rings and in belts around trunk and branches beneath +every fork. It is a law of reasoning that, when every condition but one +is the same and the effects are different, the one exceptional condition +is the _cause_ of the difference. If these trees are alike in everything +except the work of the sapsucker (the only internal difference +apparently _offsetting_ his work in part), what inference do we draw as +to the effect of his work? + +We presume that he is killing the tree, without as yet knowing how he +does it. What is his object? Good observers have stated that he draws a +little sap in order to attract flies and wasps; that the sap is not +drawn for its own sake, but as a bait for insects. Is this theory true? + +The first objection is that it is improbable. The sapsucker is a +retiring, woodland bird that would hesitate to come into a town garden a +mile away from the nearest woods unless to get something he could not +find in the woods. Had he wanted insects, he would have tapped a tree +in the woods, or else he would have caught them in his usual flycatching +fashion. There must have been something about the mountain ash tree that +he craved. As it is a very rare tree in the vicinity of my home, the +sapsucker's only chance to satisfy his longing was by coming to some +town garden like our own. + +Not only is the theory improbable, but it fails to explain the +sapsucker's actions in this instance. In twenty years he was never seen +to catch an insect that was attracted by the sap he drew. This does not +deny that he may have caught insects now and then, but it does deny that +he set the sap running for a lure. As he was never far away, and was +sometimes only four and a half feet by measure from a chamber window, +all that he did could be seen. He did not catch insects at his holes. He +drank sap and ate bark. + +Finally, the theory is not only improbable and inadequate, but in this +instance it is impossible. I do not remember seeing a sapsucker in the +tree in the spring; if he came in the summer, it must have been at rare +intervals; but he was always there in the fall, when the leaves were +dropping. At that season the insect hordes had been dispersed by the +autumnal frosts, so that we know he did not come for insects. + +In the many years during which I watched the sapsuckers--for there were +undoubtedly a number of different birds that came, although never more +than one at a time--there was such a curious similarity in their actions +that it is entirely proper to speak as if the same bird returned year +after year. His visits, as I have said, were usually made at the same +season. He would come silently and early, with the evident intention of +making this an all-day excursion. By eight o'clock he would be seen +clinging to a branch and curiously observant of the dining-room window, +which at that hour probably excited both his interest and his alarm. +Early in the day he showed considerable activity, flitting from limb to +limb and sinking a few holes, three or four in a row, usually _above_ +the previous upper girdle of the limbs he selected to work upon. After +he had tapped several limbs he would sit waiting patiently for the sap +to flow, lapping it up quickly when the drop was large enough. At first +he would be nervous, taking alarm at noises and wheeling away on his +broad wings till his fright was over, when he would steal quietly back +to his sap-holes. When not alarmed, his only movement was from one row +of holes to another, and he tended them with considerable regularity. As +the day wore on he became less excitable, and clung cloddishly to his +tree-trunk with ever increasing torpidity, until finally he hung +motionless as if intoxicated, tippling in sap, a disheveled, smutty, +silent bird, stupefied with drink, with none of that brilliancy of +plumage and light-hearted gayety which made him the noisiest and most +conspicuous bird of our April woods. + +Our mountain ash trees have told us several facts about the sapsucker:-- + +That he did not come to eat insects. + +That he did come to drink sap, and that he probably ate the inner bark +also. + +That he drank the sap because he liked it, not for some secondary +object, as insects. + +That he could detect difference in the quality or quantity of the sap, +which caused him to prefer a particular tree. + +That this difference apparently was in the taste of the sap, and that +the effects of a day's drinking of mountain ash sap seemed to indicate +some intoxicant or narcotic quality in the sap of that particular tree. + +That the effect of his work upon the tree was apparently injurious, as +it is the only cause assigned of a healthy tree's dying before a less +healthy one of the same age and species, subject all its life to the +same conditions. + +So much we have learned about this sapsucker's habits, and now we should +like to know why his work is harmful, and why that of the other +woodpeckers is not. It is not because he drinks the sap. All the sap he +could eat or waste would not harm the tree, if allowed to run out of a +few holes. Think how many gallons the sugar-makers drain out of a single +tree without killing the tree. But the sugar-maker takes the sap in the +spring, when the crude sap is mounting up in the tree, while the +sapsucker does not begin his work till midsummer or autumn, when the +tree is sending down its elaborated sap to feed the trunk and make it +grow. This accounts for the woodpecker's digging his pits _above_ the +lines of the holes already in the tree. The loss of this elaborated sap +is a greater injury than the waste of a far larger quantity of crude +sap, so that on the season of the year when the sapsucker digs his holes +depends in large measure the amount of damage he does. The injury that +he does to the wood itself is trivial. He is not a wood_pecker_ except +at time of nesting, and most woodpeckers prefer to build in a dead or +dying branch, where their work does no hurt. But we know very well that +a tree may be a wreck, riven from top to bottom by lightning, split open +to the heart by the tempest, entirely hollow the whole length of its +trunk, and yet may flourish and bear fruit. The tree lives in its outer +layers. It may be crippled in almost any way, if the bark is left +uninjured; but if an inch of bark is cut out entirely around the tree, +it will die, for the sap can no longer run up and down to nourish it. + +This is the sapsucker's crime: he girdles the tree,--not at his first +coming, nor yet at his second, not with one row of holes, nor yet with +two; but finally, after years perhaps, when row after row of punctures, +each checking a little the flow of sap, have overlapped and offset each +other and narrowed the channels through which it could mount and +descend, until the flow is stopped. Then the tree dies. It is not the +holes he makes, nor the sap he draws, but the way he places his holes +that makes the sapsucker an unwelcome visitor. For an unacceptable +individual he is to the farmer,--_persona non grata_, as kings say of +ambassadors who do not please their majesties. What shall we do with +him, the only black sheep in all the woodpecker flock? Let him alone, +unless we are positively sure that we know him from every other kind of +woodpecker. The damage he does is trifling compared with what we should +do if we made war upon other woodpeckers for some supposed wrong-doing +of the sapsucker. + + + + +VIII + +EL CARPINTERO + + +In California and along the southwestern boundary of the United States +lives a woodpecker known among the Mexicans as El Carpintero, the +Carpenter. + +Carpentering is both his profession and his pastime, and he seems really +to enjoy the work. When there is nothing more pressing to be done, he +spends his time tinkering around, fitting acorns into holes in such +great numbers and in so workmanlike a fashion that we do not know which +is more remarkable, his patience or his skill. Every acorn is fitted +into a separate hole made purposely for it, every one is placed butt end +out and is driven in flush with the surface, so that a much frequented +tree often appears as if studded with ornamental nails. "What an +industrious bird!" we exclaim; but still it takes some time to +appreciate how enormous is the labor of the Carpenter. Whole trees will +sometimes be covered with his work, until a single tree has thousands of +acorns bedded into its bark so neatly and tightly that no other +creature can remove them. + +[Illustration: Work of Californian Woodpecker.] + +We may take for examination, from specimens of the Carpenter's work, a +piece of spruce bark seven inches long by six wide, containing ten +acorns and two empty holes. As spruce bark is so much harder and rougher +than the pine bark in which he usually stores his nuts,[1] this +specimen looks rough and unfinished, and even shows some acorns driven +in sidewise; but for another reason I have preferred it to +better-looking examples of his work for study. As we shall see later, it +gives us a definite bit of information about the bird. + +[Footnote 1: They often use white-oak bark, fence-posts, telegraph +poles, even the stalks of century-plants, when trees are not convenient. +(Merriam, _Auk_, viii. 117.)] + +Think of the work of digging these twelve holes. Think of the labor of +carrying these ten large acorns and driving them in so tightly that +after years of shrinking they cannot be removed by a knife without +injuring either the acorn or the bark. Yet how small a part of the +woodpecker's year's work is here! How long could he live on ten acorns? +How many must he gather for his winter's needs? How many must he lose by +forgetting to come back to them? We cannot calculate the work a single +bird does nor the nuts he eats, for several birds usually work in +company and may use the same tree; but all the woodpeckers are large +eaters, and the Californian has been singled out for special mention. + +Can we estimate the amount of work required to lay up one day's food? +Judging by the amount of nuts some other birds will eat, I should +think that all ten acorns contained in this piece of bark could be eaten +in one day without surfeit. The estimate seems to me well inside of his +probable appetite. I have experimented on this piece of bark, using a +woodpecker's bill for a tool, and it takes me twenty minutes to dig a +hole as large but not as neat as these. Doubtless it would not take the +woodpecker as long; but at my rate of working, four hours were spent in +digging these twelve holes. Then each acorn had to be hunted up and +brought to the hole prepared for it. This entailed a journey, it may +have been only from one tree to another, or it may have been, and very +likely was, a considerable flight. For these acorns grew on oak-trees, +and we find them driven into the bark of pines and spruces. + +[Illustration] + +This it is which gives our specimen its particular interest. While oaks +and pines may be intermingled, though they naturally prefer different +soils and situations, and in the Rocky Mountains the pine-belt lies +above the oak region, spruce and oak trees do not grow in the same soil. +The spruce-belt stands higher up than the pine. As these nuts are stored +in the bark of a spruce-tree, we have clear evidence that the bird must +have carried them some distance. For every nut he made the whole +journey back and forth, since he could carry but one at a time,--ten +long trips back and forth, certainly consuming several minutes each. + +Then each acorn had to be fitted to its hole. We have already spoken of +the accuracy with which this is done, so that the Carpenter's work is a +standing taunt to the hungry jays and squirrels which would gladly eat +his nuts if they could get them. A careful observer tells us that when +the hole is too small, the woodpecker takes the acorn out and makes the +hole a little larger, working so cautiously, however, that he sometimes +makes several trials before the acorn can be fitted and driven in flush +with the bark. Some of these acorns show cracks down the sides, as if +they had been split either in forcibly pulling them out of a hole not +deep enough for them, or in driving them when green and soft into a hole +too small for them. Of course after each trial the acorn must be hunted +up where it lies on the ground and driven in again, and this takes +considerable time. + +As nearly as we can estimate it, not less than half a day must have been +spent in putting these acorns where we find them. With smaller acorns, +stored in pine bark, less time would have been required; but weeks, if +not months, of work are spent in laying up the winter's stores. + +How the woodpecker's back and jaws must have ached! Surely he is human +enough to get tired with his work, and it is not play to do what this +bird has done. Some of the acorns measure seven tenths of an inch in +diameter by nine tenths in length, and the bird that carried them is +smaller than a robin. How he must have hurried to reach his tree when +the acorn was extra large! Yet he took time to drive every one in point +foremost. Even those that lie upon their sides must have been forced +into position by tapping the butt. He knows very well which end of an +acorn is which, does our Carpenter. + +But what is the use of all this work? Why, if he wants acorns, does he +not eat them as they lie scattered under the oaks, instead of taking +pains to carry them away and put them into holes for the fun of eating +them out of the holes afterward? The absurdity of this has led some +people to surmise that the Carpenter chooses none but weevilly acorns, +and stores them that the grub inside may grow large and fat and +delicious. This would be very interesting, if it were true. There must +of course be more weevilly acorns on the ground than he picks up, so +that he could get as many grubs without taking all this trouble, and +there is no reason why they should not be as large and good as those +hatched out in holes in trees. When I wish to keep nuts sweet, I spread +them out on the attic floor in the sun and air, keeping them where they +will not touch each other. The Carpenter does practically the same +thing. Is it probable that he tries to raise a fine crop of grubs in +this way? If so, one or the other of us is doing just the wrong thing. +But if weevils are what the Carpenter wants, then the nuts in the bark +should be wormy; yet only two of them show any sign of a weevil, and of +these one appears from its dull color and weather-beaten look to be a +nut deposited several years before the others by some other woodpecker. +Every other acorn is as hard, shining, and bright colored as when it +fell from the tree. Evidently the bird picked these nuts up while they +were fresh and good; perhaps he chose them _because_ they were good and +fresh. The possibility becomes almost a certainty when we observe that +naturalists agree that the Carpenter uses no acorns but the +sweet-tasting species. Now there are likely to be as many grubs in one +kind of an acorn as in another, and he would scarcely refuse any kind +that contained them, if grubs were what he wanted. The fact that he +takes sweet acorns, and those only, shows that it is the meat of the nut +that he wants. And all good naturalists agree that it is the kernel +itself that he eats. + +Why he stores them is not hard to decide when we remember that the +Californian woodpecker, over a large part of his range, is a mountain +bird. Though we think of California as the land of sunshine, it is not +universal summer there. The mountain ranges have a winter as severe as +that of New England, with a heavy snowfall. When the snow lies several +feet deep among the pines and spruces of the uplands, the Carpenter is +not distressed for food: his pantry is always above the level of the +snow; he need neither scratch a meagre living from the edges of the +snow-banks, nor go fasting. His fall's work has provided him not only +with the necessities, but with the luxuries of life. + +But why does he spend so much time in making holes? He might tuck his +nuts into some natural crevice in the oak bark, or drop them into +cavities which all birds know so well where to find. And leave them +where any pilfering jay would be able to pick them out at his ease? Or +put them in the track of every wandering squirrel? Jays and squirrels +are never too honest to refuse to steal, but they find it harder to get +the woodpecker's stores out of his pine-tree pantry than to pick up +honest acorns of their own. So, like the woodpecker, they lay up their +own stores of nuts, and feed on them in winter, or go hungry. + +We have had very little aid from anything except the piece of bark we +were studying, yet we have learned that the Californian woodpecker is a +good carpenter; that he works hard at his trade; that he shows +remarkable foresight in collecting his food, much ingenuity in housing +it, good judgment in putting it where his enemies cannot get it, and +wisdom in the plan he has adopted to give him a good supply of fresh +nuts at a season when the autumn's crop is buried under the deep snow. + +If I were a Californian boy, I think I should spend my time in trying to +find out more about this wise woodpecker, concerning which much remains +to be discovered. + + + + +IX + +A RED-HEADED COUSIN + + +Besides his half-brothers, the narrow-fronted and ant-eating +woodpeckers, the Carpenter has a numerous family of cousins,--the +red-headed, the red-bellied, the golden-fronted, the Gila,[1] and the +Lewis's woodpeckers. These all belong to one genus, and are much alike +in structure, though totally different in color. Most of them are +Western or Southwestern birds, but one is found in nearly all parts of +the United States lying between the Hudson River and the Rocky +Mountains, and is the most abundant woodpecker of the middle West. This +well-known cousin is the red-headed woodpecker, the tricolored beauty +that sits on fence-posts and telegraph poles, and sallies out, a blaze +of white, steel-blue, and scarlet, a gorgeous spectacle, whenever an +insect flits by. He is the one that raps so merrily on your tin roofs +when he feels musical. + +[Footnote 1: So named from being found along the Gila River.] + +In many ways the red-head, as he is familiarly called, is like his +carpenter cousin. Both indulge in long-continued drumming; both catch +flies expertly on the wing; and both have the curious habit of laying up +stores of food for future use. The Californian woodpecker not only +stores acorns, but insect food as well. But though the Carpenter's +habits have long been known, it is a comparatively short time since the +red-head was first detected laying up winter supplies. + +The first to report this habit of the red-head was a gentleman in South +Dakota, who one spring noticed that they were eating _young_ +grasshoppers. At that season he supposed that all the insects of the +year previous would be dead or torpid, and certainly full-grown, while +those of the coming summer would be still in the egg. Where could the +bird find half-grown grasshoppers? Being interested to explain this, he +watched the red-heads until he saw that one went frequently to a post, +and appeared to get something out of a crevice in its side. In that post +he found nearly a hundred grasshoppers, still alive, but wedged in so +tightly they could not escape. He also found other hiding-places all +full of grasshoppers, and discovered that the woodpeckers lived upon +these stores nearly all winter. + +But it is not grasshoppers only that the red-head hoards, though he +is very fond of them. In some parts of the country it is easier to find +nuts than to find grasshoppers, and they are much less perishable food. +The red-head is very fond of both acorns and beechnuts. Probably he eats +chestnuts also. Who knows how many kinds of nuts the red-head eats? You +might easily determine not only what he will eat, but what he prefers, +if a red-headed woodpecker lives near you. Lay out different kinds of +nuts on different days, putting them on a shed roof, or in some place +where squirrels and blue jays would not be likely to dare to steal them, +and see whether he takes all the kinds you offer. Then lay out mixed +nuts and notice which ones he carries off first. If he takes all of one +kind before he takes any of the others, we may be sure that he has +discovered his favorite nut. Such little experiments furnish just the +information which scientific men are glad to get. + +[Illustration] + +It is well known that the red-head is very fond of beechnuts. Every +other year we expect a full crop of nuts, and close observation shows +that the red-heads come to the North in much larger numbers and stay +much later on these years of plenty than on the years of scanty crops. +Lately it has been discovered that they not only eat beechnuts all the +fall, but store them up for winter use. This time the observation was +made in Indiana. There, when the nuts were abundant, the red-heads were +seen busily carrying them off. Their accumulations were found in all +sorts of places: cavities in old tree-trunks contained nuts by the +handful; knot-holes, cracks, crevices, seams in the barns were filled +full of nuts. Nuts were tucked into the cracks in fence-posts; they were +driven into railroad ties; they were pounded in between the shingles on +the roofs; if a board was sprung out, the space behind it was filled +with nuts, and bark or wood was often brought to cover over the gathered +store. No doubt children often found these hiding-places and ate the +nuts, thinking they were robbing some squirrel's hoard. + +In the South, where the beech-tree is replaced by the oak, the red-heads +eat acorns. I should like to know whether they store acorns as they do +beechnuts. Are chestnuts ever laid up for winter? How far south is the +habit kept up? Is it observed beyond the limits of a regular and +considerable snowfall? That is, do the birds lay up their nuts in order +to keep them out of the snow, or for some other reason? + +It remains to be discovered if other woodpeckers have hoarding-places. +We know that the sapsucker eats beechnuts, and the downy and the hairy +woodpeckers also; that the red-bellied woodpecker and the golden-winged +flicker eat acorns; and I have seen the downy woodpecker eating +chestnuts, or the grubs in them, hanging head downward at the very tip +of the branches like a chickadee. It may be possible that some of these +lay up winter stores. + +[Illustration: Head of the Lewis's Woodpecker.] + +It is known that the Lewis's woodpecker occasionally shows signs of a +hoarding instinct. It was recently noted that in the San Bernardino +Mountains of California the Lewis's woodpecker, after driving away the +smaller Californian woodpeckers, tried to put acorns into the holes the +Carpenter had made, but, being unused to the work, did it very clumsily. +Soon after this observation was published, a boy friend living near +Denver told me that a short time before he had seen a woodpecker that +had a large quantity of acorns shelled and broken into quarters, on +which he was feeding. This woodpecker was identified beyond a doubt as +the Lewis's woodpecker. So we begin to suspect that the habit of storing +up food is not an uncommon one among the woodpeckers. + + + + +X + +A STUDY OF ACQUIRED HABITS + + +Something interesting yet remains to be discovered of the hoarding habit +of the red-head. How strange that so familiar a bird should have a habit +so easily detected, and yet that no one in all these years should speak +of it! Who does not know how mice and chipmunks hide their food? Who has +not watched the blue jay skulking off to hide an acorn where he will be +sure to forget it? Who does not remember the articles his pet Jim Crow +stole and lost to him forever? The hoarding habit has long been observed +of many dull-colored, rare, or insignificant creatures. That one so +noisy, gay-colored, tame, and abundant as our red-headed woodpecker +should have the same habit and escape observation is certainly +remarkable. But though it is over twenty years since the storing of +grasshoppers was recorded and twelve since the practice of laying up +beechnuts was observed, very little seems to have been learned of the +habit since these records were made. + +There are two points to be considered: the habit long remained unknown; +after it was discovered, it was long in being reaffirmed. It seems that, +if it were a general habit, more would be known about it. Now if it is +not a universal habit, it must be one of two alternatives, either a +custom falling into disuse, or a new one just being acquired. That a +habit so remarkable and so advantageous should be discarded after being +universal is scarcely possible; that a habit so noticeable, if it were +general, should remain unknown is improbable; that a habit which made +life in winter both secure and easy should, if introduced by a few +enterprising birds, become a universal custom, is not without a +parallel. The probabilities point to the custom of hoarding food as a +recently _acquired habit_. + +Acquired habits are not rare among birds. The chimney swift has learned +to nest in chimneys since the Pilgrims landed; for there were no +chimneys before that time. There is the evidence of old writers to show +that they acquired the habit within fifty years of the time of the first +permanent settlements in New England. The eaves swallow learned to +transfer its nest from the side of a cliff to the side of a barn in less +time. Most birds will change their food as soon as a new dainty is +procurable, and they will even invent methods of getting it, if it is +much to their taste. The way the English sparrows have learned to tear +open corn husks so as to eat the corn in the milk is a good example, for +our maize does not grow in England, and they have had to learn about its +good qualities in the few years since they have become established +outside of the cities. Yet it is already a well-established habit. So +quickly does a habit spread from one bird to another, until it becomes +the rule instead of the exception! Acquired habits always show +adaptability, and often much forethought and reason. It is the shrewd +bird that learns new tricks. + +Now there is not known among birds any evidence of greater forethought +and reason than working hard in pleasant weather, when food is plentiful +beyond all hope of ever exhausting it, to lay up provision for winter. +How does the woodpecker know that winter will come this year? That there +was a winter last year and the year before does not make it certain, but +only probable, that there will be one this year. We cannot know +ourselves that the seasons will change until we learn enough of +astronomy to understand the proof. Nor does instinct explain the habit, +as some would declare: since not all red-heads have the habit, though +all must have instinct. It would seem as if memory and reason had +devised this plan for outwitting winter, the bird's old enemy. + +The red-head is not a grub-eating woodpecker. Though beetles make up a +third of his food, their larvae do not form any part of it. Half his food +for the entire year is vegetable, and the animal portion is composed +principally of beetles, ants, caterpillars, and grasshoppers, which in +winter time are hidden in snug places, or are dead under the snow. There +are few berries in winter. The few seedy, weedy plants that stick up +above the snow give to the birds the little they have; but the +red-head's vegetable fare is limited at that season and his animal food +almost lacking. Winter in the North is all very well for the hairy and +downy cousins that like to hammer frozen tree-trunks for frozen grubs; +but our red-headed friend does not eat grubs by preference. Rather than +change his habits he will change his boarding-place. So he is a +migratory woodpecker, though the woodpeckers are naturally home-loving +birds, and do not migrate from preference. If, however, he can lay up a +store of vegetable or animal food, he can winter in any climate. +Hoarding is thus an invention as important to the woodpecker world as +electric cars and telephones are to men. The probabilities are that +this is a recent improvement in the red-head's ways of living. + +Another set of facts increases the probabilities of our supposition. It +is a very delicate subject to handle because it affects the reputation +of a family in good standing; but there is positive proof that sometimes +the red-head has been guilty of crimes which would give a man a full +column in the newspapers with staring headlines. If such deeds were not +a thousand times less common among woodpeckers than they are among men +the red-head would be declared an outlaw. He has been proved to be a +hen-roost robber, a murderer, and a cannibal. In Florida he has sucked +hen's eggs. In Iowa he has been seen to kill a duckling. There is a +record in Ohio that he pecked holes in the walls of the eaves swallow's +nest and stole all the eggs, and that he was finally killed in the act +of robbing a setting hen's nest. Within the space of fifteen years, from +Montana, Georgia, Colorado, New York, and Ontario, in addition to the +records mentioned already from Florida, Ohio, and Iowa, come accounts of +his stealing birds' eggs and murdering and eating other birds. The +evidence is indisputable. + +It is charity to suppose that this is the work of natural criminals, or +of degenerate, under-witted, or demented woodpeckers. Why should there +not be such individuals among birds? One point is certain: so notable a +habit could not long escape detection, since it is a barnyard crime. He +who robs hen's nests gets caught--if he is a bird. Either these +occurrences are very rare, not seen because of their extreme rarity, or +they indicate a new custom just coming in. And the same is true of the +habit of hoarding food; it is rare, or it is new. + +The frequency of such occurrences can be determined only by observation; +but the time of their origin might be approximated in another way. If we +could fix the date when the bird could not have done what he is now +doing for simple lack of opportunity, we might say that the habit has +been acquired since a certain date--as we have said of the English +sparrow eating maize, of the chimney swift nesting in chimneys, and the +cliff swallow building under the eaves. But we have no such help on the +case of the red-head, which never has been without opportunities to get +birds' eggs and to kill other birds. + +But there is a parallel case in another species where the date of an +acquired habit can be proved. In Florida the red-bellied woodpecker has +earned the names Orange Borer and Orange Sapsucker because he eats +oranges. It is true that he is not charged with doing damage, because +he attacks only the over-ripe and unmarketable fruit; it is known that +the habit is not general yet, for even where the birds are abundant only +a single bird or a pair will be found eating oranges, and always the +same pair, proving that it is a habit not yet learned by all of the +species; close observers declare, too, that it is but a few years since +the bird took up the habit; and, finally, we know that this must be the +case, for, though the wild orange was introduced by the Spaniards, the +sweet fruit was not extensively cultivated until recently. Here is a +habit which undoubtedly has been acquired within twenty years or so, +which will in all probability increase until instead of being the +exception it is the rule. + +Why may not the red-head's occasional cannibalism, unless this is mere +individual degeneracy, and his more common custom of hoarding be habits +that he is acquiring? Why, indeed, may not the Californian woodpecker's +distinguishing trait be a habit which began like these among a few birds +here and there, wiser or more progressive than the rest, and which in +time became general and established? Why may not the two observed +instances of the Lewis's woodpecker be examples of a similar habit just +beginning? The very differences in their methods point to that +explanation. The Lewis's woodpecker that had seen the Carpenter's work +tried to imitate him; the one that lived outside his range adopted a way +of his own, unnoticed before among woodpeckers, and shelled and +quartered his nuts before he stored them. + +It is remarkable that these four woodpeckers are cousins; they belong to +the same genus, and they have essentially the same structure, tastes, +and habits. Why should it be strange if their minds were alike too? if +they had a natural bent toward accumulativeness, and a natural desire to +try new wrinkles? We are sure that one of them has acquired a new habit +within a few years. Why may we not suppose as a basis and a spur to +further investigation that the others also are acquiring ways new and +strange? + + + + +XI + +THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS BILL + + +There is an old saying, "You may know a carpenter by his chips;" but, +though chips are seldom long absent when a woodpecker is about, can we +call the woodpecker a carpenter? Is he not both in his works and ways of +working--with the one exception of the Californian woodpecker--more of a +miner? + +For the carpenter takes pieces of wood, bit by bit, and joins them +together till at last he has built a lofty skeleton or framework for his +dwelling, which last of all he covers over and closes in; and the tools +he uses are saw and hammer. With these alone he could build his house, +though it might be neither very large nor very good. When a carpenter's +house is finished, it is neither a cave nor a hole, but a pavilion built +in the open air after the model of a spreading tree,--which frames a +roof with its branches and shingles it with overlapping leaves. There is +nothing in the woodpecker's way of building which corresponds to that. + +Quite different are the miner's methods. In the West, where the barren +mountain sides stretch up into snowclad summits, on the face of slopes +as seamed and gray and verdureless as the wrinkled trunk of an aged oak, +I have seen holes where human woodpeckers burrow. The entrance to a mine +half-way up a hillside looks strikingly like a woodpecker's hole and +scarcely larger. Nor does the likeness vanish as we think how in their +long tunnels inside their mountains of gold and iron and silver the +delving miners are picking and prying and picking to lengthen their +burrows just as the woodpeckers peck and pry and peck inside their +wooden mountain, the tree-trunk. Which shall we call the woodpecker--a +carpenter or a miner? + +What are the miner's tools? Pick and drill, are they not? What are the +woodpecker's? The same. Certainly we shall see, if we stop to think, +that it is not a chisel that he uses, as we sometimes say. A chisel is a +knife driven by blows of a hammer; like a knife its effectiveness +depends upon the sharpness and length of its cutting edge. But a +woodpecker's bill is not a cutting tool. It is a wedge, but a wedge +working on a different principle from a knife-edge. Look at this one and +observe that, though strong and stout, it is not sharp and has no true +cutting edge. It is a tapering, square-ended, flat-sided tool, rather +six-sided at the base and holding its bevel and angles to the tip. The +woodpecker's bill is a pick, not a chisel. It is used like a pick, being +driven home with a heavy blow and getting its efficiency from its own +weight and wedge-shape and from the force with which it is impelled. +Watch the downy woodpecker at his work and see what sturdy blows he +delivers, pausing after each one to aim and drive home another telling +stroke. This is pick-axe work. But sometimes he rattles off a succession +of taps so short and quick that they blend together in one continuous +drumming, too light and quick to be likened to the ponderous swing of +the pick-axe. Now he is drilling. The work of a drill is to cut out a +small deep hole either by twirling (as in drilling metals) or by tapping +(as in drilling stone). The woodpecker drills by the latter method and +there is a curious likeness between his bill and the mason's tools. + +[Illustration: Head of Ivory-billed Woodpecker.] + +Any one who has lived in a granite country knows the deep round holes +that stone masons make when they split rock. Did you ever wonder why +they are as large at the bottom as at the top? If you remember the shape +of a mason's drill, you will recollect that it looks a little like a +stick of home-made molasses candy bitten off when it was just soft +enough to stretch a little. The mason's drill is a round iron rod with a +thin, flat end, sharpened on the edge and a little pointed in the +centre. In the flattening of the sides and the width across the tip its +end resembles that of a typical woodpecker's bill. The woodpeckers that +drill for grubs, especially the largest, the logcock and the +ivory-billed woodpecker, have the tip remarkably flattened. The likeness +to the drill does not go farther because the woodpecker's bill is a +combination tool; but it is drill-pointed rather than pick-pointed. + +What is the advantage of this compressed tip? Can the bird pick as well +as he could with a sharp point? The bird and the mason reap the same +benefit from this form of tool. A sharp-pointed drill would bind in the +hole and could neither be driven ahead nor removed without difficulty, +but the sharp-edged tool cuts a hole as wide as the instrument. There +is, of course, some difference between working in stone and in wood, but +the principle is the same. The mason strikes his drill with his hammer +and cuts a crease in the stone; then lifts and turns the drill, cutting +a crease in another direction; and so by continually changing the +direction of the cuts until they radiate from a centre like the spokes +of a wheel, he finally reduces a little circle of stone to a powder fine +enough to be blown out of the hole. In drilling for a grub the +woodpecker must do much the same thing. He wishes to keep his hole small +at the top so as to save work, yet it must be large enough at the bottom +to admit the borer when nipped between his mandibles; therefore he needs +an instrument that, like a drill or a chisel, will cut a straight-sided +hole. Indeed, we might call it a chisel just as well if it were not a +double-wedge instead of a single wedge and if it did not move when it is +struck instead of being held stationary beneath the blows. + +When he is digging his house the woodpecker uses his bill as a pick-axe. +When he is digging for grubs he uses it as a drill. Now some species +drill very little and some a great deal, according to the number of +grubs they feed on; but all dig holes to nest in,--that is, all use +their bills as picks but only a few employ them as drills. The flickers, +for example, seldom drill for grubs, their food being picked up on the +surface or dug from the earth; yet they excavate the deepest, roomiest +holes made by any woodpeckers of their size; they use their bills +effectively as pick-axes, but seldom, very seldom, as drills. And what +do we find? No drill-point--not a truncate, compressed bill fit for +drilling, but a sharper, pointed, rounded, _curving_ bill. Notice the +ordinary pick-axe and see how much nearer the flicker's bill than the +logcock's or the ivory-billed woodpecker's it is. Why is a flicker's +bill better for being curved also? Why do the drilling woodpeckers have +a perfectly straight bill? We should find by studying the birds and +their food that there is a direct relation between the shape of the bill +and the amount of drilling a woodpecker does; that the grub-eating or +drilling woodpeckers have a straight bill, for working in small deep +holes, while the flickers have a curved bill for prying out chips. And +we should note that the flicker's bill is most like the ordinary bill of +perching birds, while the drilling bill, as typified by the logcock's +and the hairy woodpecker's bills, is a more specialized tool, limited to +fewer uses, but more effective within its limits. + +There is another detail of the woodpecker's bills which casts light upon +their habits. The species that drill most have their nostrils closely +covered by little tufts of stiff feathers, scarcely more than bristles, +which turn forward over the nostril. The density and the length of these +tufts agree very well with the kind of work the woodpecker does; for in +the hairy and the downy, which are continually drilling and raising a +dust in rotten wood, they are very thick and noticeable, while in the +red-head and the sapsucker they show as scarcely more than a few loose +bristles, and in the flicker they barely cover the nostril. This seems a +plain provision to keep the dust out of the bird's lungs; and we might +cite as additional evidence the fact that the only other birds of +similar tree-pecking habits, the nuthatches and the chickadees, have +their nostrils protected in the same way. But we must always be cautious +before drawing inferences of this sort to see what may be said on the +other side. When we recollect that the crows and ravens and many kinds +of finches, among other birds, none of which dig in the bark of trees or +raise a dust, have their nostrils as completely covered, we see that we +have perhaps discovered a _use_ for these nasal tufts but not the +_cause_ of their being there. We must be careful not to mistake cause +and accompaniment in our endeavor to explain differences in structure. + +Let us see what we have learned and how to interpret it:-- + +That the woodpecker's bill is a combination of drill and pick-axe. + +That the shape varies with the use to which it is most commonly put. + +That the use varies with the food principally eaten; or, what is a step +farther back, that the different kinds of food must be sought in +different places and by different methods, and therefore require +different tools. + +Therefore the shape of the woodpecker's bill has a direct relation to +the kind of food he eats. Please notice that we do not assert that it +_causes_ him to eat a certain kind of food nor that a certain diet may +not have affected the shape of the bill, causing it to be what we now +see. Both may be at least partially true, but to prove either or both +would need profound study, and all that we have observed is that the +shape of the woodpecker's bill is _adapted_ to his food and that it +varies with the kind of food he eats, or, to be more exact, with his +ways of procuring it. + + + + +XII + +THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS FOOT + + +We have studied the woodpecker's bill and have found that it is a very +serviceable tool. We shall find that his feet are equally well adapted +to their work. + +Here is the foot of a woodpecker. Observe how it differs from a +chicken's foot, or a sparrow's foot. What is it that especially fits it +for climbing? Perhaps you will notice that the tarsus is short, and you +may be able to explain why it would be a disadvantage for a climbing +bird to have long legs, as well as why it is a help for him to have long +toes. Toes long and legs short is the rule with the woodpeckers. + +[Illustration: Foot of Woodpecker.] + +I never see a woodpecker's foot without thinking of an iceman's nippers +with their short handles and long, sharp-toothed jaws. They are designed +for similar uses,--to lift heavy weights by laying hold of smooth, flat +surfaces. The iceman sets his nippers into the ice and lifts the block; +but the bird sets his claws into the tree and lifts his own body. + +Suppose the nippers had one short jaw and one long one, would they then +take as firm hold as they do with jaws of equal length? In perching +birds the hind toe is much the shortest, but they sit balanced upon a +limb and have merely to hold themselves in position. The woodpecker +climbing a tree-trunk is out of balance; he would fall off unless he had +a firm grip; and he could not get this firm hold if his hind toes were +not long enough to give his foot a nearly equal spread back and forward. +Other birds grasp a limb with the whole under surface of their toes, but +the woodpecker when on a smooth, upright tree-trunk nips it only with +his toenails. Try with your own hand to hold a stick as large and heavy +as you can grasp, and you will see that when you clasp your hand around +it as a perching bird takes hold of a perch, it makes little difference +that the thumb is shorter than the fingers, but when you try to nip it +with your finger tips alone, you must bend your fingers until they are +not much longer than your thumb,--that is, a pair of nippers must be +equal jawed. + +This simple illustration shows why the woodpecker's foot reaches as far +backward as forward. But a sensible objection may be raised, namely, +that as there are two hind toes of unequal length, it is by no means +certain which is the more necessary. + +[Illustration: Diagram of right foot.] + +Scientists tell us that a woodpecker's foot, though it looks so unlike a +chicken's, is really very much the same. When we ask how one of the +front toes disappeared and how the extra hind toe came to be where it +is, they tell us that there has been no addition and no loss, but the +extra hind toe is only a front toe turned backward. They call it a +_reversed fourth toe_. A bird's toes are numbered in order starting with +the hind toe and going around the _inside_ of the foot to the outer or +fourth toe. The hind toe is the thumb, and the others are numbered in +the same order as the fingers of our hands. So we see that the +woodpecker's real hind toe is rather small, like that of most birds. It +looks very much as if it had been found _too_ small and as if another +had turned back to help it do its work. Do you say that a bird cannot +turn his toes about in this way? Most cannot, to be sure, but all of the +owls can do it. An owl will sit either with two toes forward and two +backward, or with three forward and one the other way. The owls have a +reversible outer toe, and perhaps the woodpeckers did also before it +became permanently reversed. + +[Illustration: Foot of Three-toed Woodpecker.] + +That this is exactly what had happened is curiously confirmed. There are +a few woodpeckers in this country which have but three toes. They are +the only North American land birds with less than four toes (though many +sea and shore birds have but three). Compare this picture with a +four-toed woodpecker's foot. One toe is gone completely, when or how no +one can tell. But in some way the _first_ toe, the _thumb_, the one we +always begin to count from, has disappeared. The one left is the +reversed fourth toe, as we know by the number of joints in it. +Undoubtedly this woodpecker needed a hind toe, but he must have needed a +longer, stronger one than his natural first toe. A toe of the right +length was supplied by turning one of the front toes back, and the short +hind toe in some way disappeared. + +This may seem a roundabout way to show that a woodpecker's foot is a +pair of nippers. First we studied nippers till we found out that they +were not good nippers unless they were nearly equal-limbed. Next we +studied the woodpecker's foot to learn about that extra hind toe. Then +it occurred to us that four toes were not necessary, since some of our +best climbers have but three. What was the essential point? Might it not +be a foot equally divided without reference to the number of toes? But +that is the principle of a pair of nippers. Then came the question, is +there any similarity in their use? Yes, the nippers are used to lift +heavy weights, and the woodpecker's foot is used to lift his heavy body +in just the same way, by taking hold of a flat, smooth surface. We +conclude that a wide-spread, equally divided, nipping foot would be the +best device possible for the woodpecker's way of living, and we find by +examination that every woodpecker shows this type of foot. + +There is additional evidence that this is the right explanation. Our +only other North American birds that climb on the bark of trees +professionally, as we may say, are the brown creepers and the +nuthatches. In both these the tarsus is short, as we found it in the +woodpeckers, and the hind toe and its claw are fully equal to the middle +toe and claw, making an equally divided foot. On the other hand, the +foot with two toes forward and two toes backward is confined neither to +woodpeckers nor to climbing birds. The parrots, which climb after a +fashion, have it; but so do the cuckoos, which do not climb, some of +which, like our road-runner, or ground cuckoo of the West, are strictly +terrestrial. The "yoking" of the toes may occur by the reversion of the +fourth toe, as ordinarily, or of the second toe, as in the trogons; the +arrangement appears to be definitely related to the distribution of the +tendons that control the toes. But though accounting for the structure +may give a clue to its descent, it does not justify its efficiency. The +yoke-toed foot is not exclusively a climbing foot. All our families of +climbers have at least one representative with but one toe behind, and +this clearly proves that the yoke-toed structure is by no means +necessary even though it may be an honorable inheritance among climbers. +The natural conclusion is that the important point in climbing is not +the number nor the arrangement of the toes, but the length of at least +one hind toe so as to give an equally divided foot. + +There is an interesting point to notice about the woodpeckers. This +reversed fourth toe is curiously variable in length. In the flickers, +with its claw, it is a little shorter than the middle (third) toe with +its claw; in the red-heads and their friends it a little exceeds the +middle toe and claw; in the downy and the hairy it is much the longest +toe, and in the ivory-billed woodpecker it is abnormally developed. We +at once judge that it is some indication of the bird's manner of life, +and we look for it to be largest in the species that live continually +upon the trunks of trees, obtaining most of their food by drilling. We +expect to see the finest development of drilling bill accompany this +enormously developed toe, and we find them both in the ivory-billed +woodpecker. In imagination we clearly see the use of it. The great bird, +keen in his quest of grubs, sidling hastily round the tree, in an +unsteady balance and unsupported by his tail, throws one long hind toe +downward to steady himself, hooks the other into the bark above him, and +hangs between the two as firmly supported as in his ordinary position. +No doubt he does do this, but does it prove the supposition that the +heaviest and most arboreal woodpeckers have the greatest development of +the fourth toe? Not at all. There is our rare acquaintance the logcock, +or pileated woodpecker, a bird nearly as large as the ivory-billed, one +of the most persistent of our tree-climbers and more than any other +woodpecker I ever observed given to scratching rapidly round and round a +tree-trunk, clinging at ease in almost any position except +head-downward, and drilling incessantly and at all seasons for grubs; he +is a typical woodpecker of the largest size, but his hind toe and claw +are, if anything, a trifle shorter than his middle toe with its claw. He +throws it out and uses it as we have described, but it has not that +disproportion to the other toes which we expected to find as the result +of a strictly arboreal life. + +What have we proved? We have not shown that the long toe is _not_ more +useful than the shorter one,--that is a matter of observation; but we +have failed entirely to show that it is so, and this can be done only in +one of two ways: either by proving that the logcock's habits are not +what all previous observers have believed them to be,--which would be +assuming a great burden of proof; or by demonstrating that his ancestry +explains why his feet do not illustrate our theory,--and this, though it +is undoubtedly the true solution, could be settled only by a very +learned man. + +But we have encountered one truth which must always be held in mind in +science--that a theory is not proved while a single fact remains +rebellious and unsubdued. We might have examined every other woodpecker +in the continent but just one; we might have seen that every other one +agreed with our theory, as it does; we might have supposed that the +explanation was good past doubting; but that one exception--if it was a +logcock--would still over-turn the whole theory; and the very facts that +we relied upon to strengthen us--its resemblance in size, habits, shape, +and color to the ivory-billed woodpecker--have been the strongest +possible means of totally demolishing our fine theory. We have learned, +if nothing more, that all the facts must be examined and accounted for +before an explanation is accepted as indisputable. + + + + +XIII + +THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS TAIL + + +If we study the woodpecker's anatomy and observe his broad, strong, +highly-arched hip-bones and the heavy, triangular "ploughshare" bone in +which the tail feathers are planted, as well as the stiffness and +strength of the tail itself, we must conclude that it is not by accident +that he uses his tail as a prop. The whole structure shows that the bird +was intended "to lean on his tail." What we wish to discover is how good +a tail it is to lean on. + +[Illustration: Tail of Hairy Woodpecker.] + +Our first impression is that the woodpecker's tail might be improved. +Why are not the tips of the feathers stiffer? Why is it so rounded? Most +of the work seems to fall on the middle feathers, and in some species, +as the downy and the hairy woodpeckers, these end in decurved tips so +soft and unresisting that they seem quite unfit to give any support. +Would it not be better if the woodpecker's tail had been cut square +across and made of feathers equally rigid and ending in short stiff +spines? For we see that the woodpecker's tail is not only weak in its +inner feathers, but weaker still in its outer ones, and it is stiff, in +most species, only in the upper three fourths of its length. + +When we propose a change in nature it is wise to inquire whether our +improvement has not been tried before and to learn how it worked. How +many kinds of birds have we that use their tails for a support? What are +their habits and what sort of tails have they? + +[Illustration: Tails of Brown Creeper (under surface) and Chimney Swift +(upper surface.)] + +Besides the woodpeckers we have but two kinds of land birds that prop +themselves with their tails,--the swifts and the creepers. The creeper +has a tail very much like the woodpecker's as it is; while the chimney +swift's is precisely like the woodpecker's as we thought it ought to be. +But we observe that while the creeper's habits are almost precisely +like the woodpecker's,--so much so that when we first make his +acquaintance, some of us will be sure we have discovered a new kind of +woodpecker,--the chimney swift has but one habit in common with the +woodpecker, that of clinging to an upright surface and propping himself +by his tail. If the bird with the tail most like the woodpecker's has +the woodpecker's habits, is it not a fair inference that this form of +tail is better fitted to this way of living than the other would be? + +Next, what variations in shapes do we observe among the woodpeckers +themselves? The logcock and the ivory-billed woodpecker have the longest +tails--because they are the largest birds. When we compare the length of +the tails with the length of the birds we are surprised at the results. +On measuring sixteen species, representing seven genera, I find that the +tail is from three tenths to thirty-five hundredths of the entire +length; that it is, in proportion, as long in the flicker as in the +ivory-bill, as long in the downy as in the logcock, and longer (in the +specimens measured) in the almost wholly terrestrial flicker than in the +wholly arboreal logcock. Without much more study all that we can safely +infer is that the woodpecker's tail is not far from one third the +length of his whole body measured from the tip of the bill to the tip of +the tail. Probably this is the proportion most convenient for his work. + +[Illustration: Middle tail feathers of Flicker, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, +and Hairy Woodpecker.] + +All woodpeckers' tails agree in one particular: they are rounded at the +end. At first sight we would say that some are but slightly rounded and +others very deeply graduated; but as nearly as I can determine this is +at least partly an optical illusion, explained by the great difference +in the shape of the feathers making up the tail, which in some, as the +flicker, are very broad and abruptly pointed, and in others taper +gradually to the end and are very narrow for their length. The larger +birds naturally appear to have longer tails, and the effect of narrow +feathers is to make the tails appear longer and more sharply graduated +than they really are. This diagram shows the shape of the curve in six +species, and indicates that, while the curvature is less than we might +expect, it bears some relation to the bird's way of living; for we see +that the strictly arboreal woodpeckers have more pointed tails than the +terrestrial species, and that the amount of gradation bears a direct +relation to the amount of time spent upon the tree-trunks. + +There is a third difference, the shape of the individual feather, to +which we shall refer again; but now we wish to examine the uses and +meaning of the curved end. + +[Illustration] + + Diagram of curvature of tails of Woodpeckers. Drawn to scale. + + _a_, _a_, point of insertion in + rump. + + _a_, _b_, outer tail feather. + + _a_, _c_, middle tail feather. + +If the outer tail feather were of the same length in all cases, the +curve at the end of the tail would be represented by the dotted lines. + + 1. Flicker. + + 2. Red-headed Woodpecker. + + 3. Downy Woodpecker. + + 4. Logcock. + + 5. Central American Ivory-billed + Woodpecker. + + 6. North American Ivory-billed + Woodpecker. + + +I will show you how to prove this point so that you may be satisfied +about it even if you should never see a woodpecker. We will make a +little experiment, so simple that even a child can understand it. + +First, how many shapes can any bird's tail have? It may be one of three +general patterns, and it can be nothing else unless we combine those +patterns. It may be square across the end, it may have the middle +feathers longest, or it may have the outer feathers longest. To one of +these patterns every form of birds' tails may be referred; you can +invent no other shape. + +Let us assume that you know nothing whatever of a woodpecker's tail +except that it has ten feathers, is used as a prop, and is held at an +angle of thirty or forty degrees with the tree-trunk. Now, take three +strips of paper of the same width and length, and of any size not +inconveniently small. Fold them all down the centre. Cut one square +across; cut one with a rounded end and the third with a forked end, +making them of any shape you please so long as the three papers are of +the same length. To give our models a fair test they must be of the same +width and length. Next, pin a sheet of paper of any size you please into +the form of a cylinder and stand it on end to represent a tree-trunk. +Then fit the patterns to the tree-trunk and see which is the form that +would give the most support. + +[Illustration: Patterns of tails.] + +But first, in how many ways is it possible for a bird to use his tail as +a prop? He may of course hold it open or closed; and the open tail may +be held in a single plane, "spread flat," as we say; or curved up at the +edges, like a crow blackbird's; or curved down at the edges. And the +closed tail may be held in a single plane; or, by dropping each pair of +feathers a little, in several planes. Thus we see there are five +positions in which each shape may be held against the cylinder of paper. +Try each one against it, holding it first in the open positions and then +after folding the paper like a bird's tail with the outer feathers +underneath, in the closed positions. The size of the model tree-trunk +and the shape you cut your curves will make the results vary a little, +but you will be surprised to observe, if your models are not too small, +how many times you will get the same answers. Note the number and +position of the pairs that touch: + + _Spread._ _Square end._ _Forked end._ _Round end._ + + one plane, varies varies middle pair + curved up, middle pair middle pair middle pair + curved down, all all all + _Closed._ + one plane, outer pair outer pair middle pair + different planes, outer pair outer pair all + +Which shape brings the most feathers into use in all positions? Which +positions bring most feathers into use? We see at once that the rounded +end has a decided advantage, that the middle pair of feathers is used in +all possible positions, that the pair next outside is the next +important, and that the spread tail curving downward at the edges and +the closed tail in different planes are the two shapes which give the +best support. There is therefore a reason for the rounded end which we +said was the rule among the woodpeckers. + +Our little experiment is what we call a _deduction_. It shows us what we +ought to expect under certain imaginary conditions. But it does not show +us what actually exists, so there often comes a time when our deductions +are faulty because Nature has done some unexpected thing, as when we +found the single exception of the logcock's foot upsetting a fine theory +of ours. A deduction must always be compared with facts, and is worth +little or nothing if a single fact of the series we are studying is not +explained by it. This time all the facts do agree; for I had, before we +made our experiment, examined the tails of every species of woodpecker +ever found in North America, and there was no exception to the rounded +end. I had already drawn my conclusion that this form was better +adapted to life on a tree-trunk than the square or the forked tail would +be, reasoning by a different process called _induction_. An induction +examines many, and, if possible, all the facts before drawing any +conclusion; a deduction examines the facts after the conclusion is +reached. There is no hard-and-fast line between the two kinds of +reasoning, but we may say that a _deduction is reasoning out a guess and +an induction is guessing out a reason_. Deductions are easier and +quicker; inductions are surer, and in preparing them we often make other +discoveries. + +The rounded tail is no doubt the best; but we have yet to decide whether +the sharper curve is more advantageous than the lesser curve, as we +thought probable from our observations. And there is still another +deduction from our experiment which we did not make. If in the rounded +tail the middle pairs of feathers do most of the work, and if use +increases the size and efficiency of a part, which is almost an axiom in +science, we should expect to find the middle tail feathers not only +strongest in all woodpeckers but also strongest in increasing ratio in +the species that use them most. To determine this we must study the use +of the tail and the structure and shape of the individual tail +feathers. + +We should remark, perhaps, that the woodpecker's tail is always composed +of twelve feathers--ten pointed rectrices and two tiny abortive feathers +so short and so hidden that no attention is paid to them. The ten +principal feathers are arranged in corresponding pairs numbered from the +outside to the centre as first, second, third, fourth, and fifth pairs. + +In the flickers all ten feathers have wide vanes and are similar in +everything but the shape; all are more or less pointed. The flicker's +tail looks and feels very much like that of any other bird except that +the shafts are stiffer and the vanes contract to an acuminate tip. But +as we take up the other species we notice a change, not only in the +shape of the feathers but much more in their texture and in the +difference between the various pairs. While in the flicker four pairs +out of five are pointed and all are rigid, in the downy and the hairy +three pairs out of five seem to be too soft to give any support, the +sharp points have disappeared, and the tail has lost much of its +stiffness. The two middle pairs of feathers are the only ones capable of +doing much work and they are wavering and infirm at the tips where we +should expect them to be strongest. In the logcock it is about the +same,--two pairs are apparently unfit for work, one pair is infirm, and +the two middle pairs are compelled to give all the support, except the +little contributed by the third pair. In the ivory-billed woodpecker the +two outer pairs are of no assistance and the three central ones do the +work, and here again we find the base of the rectrices rigid and +inflexible and the last fourth of their length weak and yielding. But +what a difference in the individual feather! It is well able to do all +the work; for, except for that weak tip which we cannot now explain, it +is one of the toughest and strongest feathers to be found. The shaft is +broad and flat, as elastic as a watch-spring; it looks like a band of +burnished steel as it runs down between the vanes. And the vanes +themselves are of a very curious pattern. They curl under at the edges +so that we do not see their whole width, and the barbs crowd so thickly +upon each other that they over-lie until they present an edge three or +four broad. Indeed, the under side of one of these tail feathers reminds +one of nothing so much as of the under side of a star-fish's arm with +its two long lines of ambulacral suckers on each side of a central +groove, so thickly do the spiny vanes of these strong rectrices over +ride and crowd together. These spines lay hold of the bark of the tree, +rank after rank, hundreds of bristling points that cannot be dislodged +except by a forward motion of the bird or by lifting the tail. Compared +with this, the spiny points on the flicker's tail were a poor invention. +This device, which takes hold like a wool card, or a wire hair-brush, +cannot slip from place. We begin to see, too, the use of that weak and +flexible tip; it is to press down upon the tree-trunk a flat surface +sufficiently large to hold hundreds of these little spiny points against +the bark. The ivory-bill braces against this with the stiff upper part +of the shaft and has a support that will not slip. The upper part of the +shaft acts like a spring also, and adds tremendous force to the blow of +the bill. Watch a hairy woodpecker when hard at work and see how his +legs and tail form a triangular base by bracing against each other, and +how his blow is delivered, not with the head alone, but with the whole +body, swinging from the hips, the apex of the triangle on which he +rests. He swings like a man wielding a sledge hammer, and to the +strength of his neck adds the weight of his body, the spring of his +tail, and the momentum of a blow delivered from a greater height. When +the little hairy woodpecker does so much with his weak body, we can +imagine what great birds like the logcock and the ivory-billed +woodpecker, with their tremendous beaks, their huge claws, their springy +tails, and their great physical strength can do. They are magnificent +birds, the terror of all the grubs that hide in tree-trunks. + +[Illustration: Under side of middle tail feather of Ivory-billed +Woodpecker.] + +One point we have left unexplained: What is the advantage, if there is +any, in the sharper curve to the tails of the arboreal woodpeckers? It +is a simple question. The curve is caused by the unequal length of the +tail feathers; each tail feather is a prop, and by their inequality they +become props of different lengths. Now ask any carpenter which will best +support a tottering wall--props all of the same length set at the same +angle, or props of different lengths set at different angles? His answer +will help you to solve the problem. But if a little is good, why are not +all the pairs used as props? Partly, perhaps, because the woodpecker is +always crowded for houseroom, and while he must have tail enough, he +cannot afford to have any which he does not use. Did you ever think what +an inconvenience any tail at all must be in a woodpecker's hole? + + + + +XIV + +THE WOODPECKER'S TOOLS: HIS TONGUE + + +We have seen how the woodpecker spears his grubs: now we will study his +spear. + +[Illustration: Tongue of Hairy Woodpecker. (After Lucas.)] + +There are many interesting points about a woodpecker's tongue, and they +are not hard to understand. If a woodpecker would kindly let us take +hold of his tongue and pull it out to its full extent we should be +afraid we were "spoiling his machinery," for the tongue can be drawn out +almost incredibly--between two and three inches in a hairy woodpecker +and more in a flicker. A strange-looking object it is, much resembling +an angle-worm in form, color, and feeling; for it is round, soft, and +sticky, except at the flat, horny, bayonet-pointed tip, and as it lies +in the mouth it is wrinkled like the wrist of a loose glove; but it +grows smaller and smoother the more we pull it out. Evidently we are +only drawing it into its skin. But where does so much tongue come from? +Does it stretch like a piece of elastic cord? Or is a part hidden +somewhere? And if so, where is it kept? + +[Illustration: Tongue-bones of Flicker. (After Lucas.)] + + _a._ Cerato-hyals, fused and short. + _b._ Basi-hyal, long, slender. + _c._ Cerato-branchials. + _d._ Epibranchials. + Basi-branchial is wanting. + + +These questions are answered by studying the bones of the tongue, for +without bones it could not be guided as swiftly and surely as it is. +Indeed, all tongues have bones in them, as you will discover by cutting +carefully the slices near the root of an ox-tongue; but no other +creature has such long and elaborate tongue-bones as some of the +woodpeckers. They are the slenderest and most delicate little bony rods, +joined end to end, but not really hinged nor needing to be, because they +are so elastic. Here are the bones of a flicker's tongue. The little +knob at the end, marked _a_, bore the horny point of the tongue and +directed it; the straight shaft marked _b_ was inside the round part of +the tongue as it lay within the bird's mouth; but what was done with +these two long branches, fully three quarters of the entire length of +the bones? They are too sharply curved to pass down the bird's throat, +and, not being jointed, they cannot be doubled back in his mouth. They +were tucked away very neatly and curiously. As the hyoid or tongue-bone +lies in the mouth its branches diverge just in front of the gullet, and, +traveling along the inner sides of the fork of the lower jaw, pass up +over the top of the skull, looking in their sheath of muscles like two +tiny whipcords. But still the bones are too long by perhaps half an inch +for the place they occupy, and the ends must be neatly disposed of. +Usually both pass to the right nasal opening and along the hollow of the +upper mandible. Very rarely they may curl down around the eyeball in a +spiral spring. So when the flicker thrusts out his tongue he feels the +pull in the end of his nose, for the tip of the tongue being run out, +the long slender bones are drawn out of their hiding-places, down over +the skull until they lie flat along the roof of his mouth. As soon as +he wishes to shut his bill, back fly the little bones guided by their +hollow sheaths of elastic muscle into their hiding-place in the top of +the bill. The muscular covering is a part of the same soft envelope that +we saw lying in wrinkles at the root of the tongue. It covers the whole +length of the little bones just as the woven outside covers an elastic +cord. + +[Illustration: Skull of Woodpecker, showing bones of tongue. _a._ Upper +end of windpipe and gullet.] + +[Illustration: Hyoids of Sapsucker and Golden-fronted Woodpecker.] + +Not all woodpeckers have tongues precisely like this. The sapsucker's is +the shortest of any, and reaches barely beyond the hinge of the jaws. In +the Lewis's woodpecker and others of his genus the branches of the hyoid +extend part-way up the back of the skull but in the kinds that live +principally upon borers they are very long and resemble the flicker's in +arrangement. The only other North American birds that have a tongue +built upon this plan are the hummingbirds, in which also it is +extensile. The flicker, in proportion to his size, has the longest +tongue of any bird known. + + + + +XV + +HOW EACH WOODPECKER IS FITTED FOR HIS OWN KIND OF LIFE + + +We have studied the woodpeckers at some length: first, what all of them +do; next, what some that are peculiar in their ways do; lastly, how each +is fitted for a particular kind of life. At first we were inclined to +think they were all alike; but now we begin to see that there are very +real differences between them,--in tails, feet, bills, and tongues, and +at the same time in their food and habits. + +The flicker's tail is less sharply curved than that of any other +woodpecker,--a sign that he is probably not exclusively a tree-dweller; +his bill is curved and rounded, a pick-axe rather than a drill,--an +indication that he does not dig for grubs; his feet do not tell us much; +but his long extensile tongue shows that, whatever he feeds upon, he +seeks it in holes. We find a tongue like this in no other bird, but +among mammals the aard-vark, the ant-bear, and the pangolins are all +similarly equipped, and all live on ants which they extract from their +mounds and burrows in hundreds by means of these round, sticky, and +extensile tongues. This is precisely the way the flicker gets his +living. He lives principally upon the ground or near it, pecks very +little except when digging his nest, and feeds largely upon ants, +thrusting his head into the ant-hills and drawing out the ants glued to +his tongue rather than speared by it. As he has been known to eat three +thousand ants for a meal, we see how much easier this is than spearing +them one by one. + +The red-head is another type. The bill is still nearly of the pick-axe +model, the feet not especially different from the flicker's, the tail +rather better adapted to life on a tree-trunk, and the tongue entirely +unlike the flicker's,--not very extensile and heavily clothed near the +tip with long, thick, recurved bristles. We infer that though he may +climb well, he is not a drilling woodpecker to any great extent, and +that his tongue is adapted neither to extracting borers nor to eating +ants from their burrows. His habits bear out the inference. He is +arboreal, but his food is either vegetable or picked up from the +surface, rasped up rather than speared. + +The sapsucker presents still another variation. The points to the tail +feathers are more acuminate and the tail itself more resembles that of +the tree-dwelling woodpeckers in shape; the feet are fitted for clinging +to the trunk; the bill, now perfectly straight and no longer smoothly +rounded but buttressed by strong angles that spring from the base and +run down toward the tip, is the bill of a woodpecker that lives by +drilling; but the tongue is wholly unadapted to catching grubs. What +kind of food can an arboreal woodpecker with a drilling bill find upon a +tree-trunk when his tongue can be extended only a fifth of an inch, and +is furnished with a brush of bristles at the end? We have answered that +question before: he eats the inner bark of trees and laps up the sap, +for which this brushy tip is excellently fitted. It has been observed +that the tongue much resembles the tongues of insect-eating birds, which +cannot be extended beyond the end of the bill. It is true that the +sapsucker catches great numbers of insects, taking them on the wing like +a flycatcher. But he also eats nearly as many ants as the flicker, +though their tongues are totally unlike. We have made the mistake +perhaps of thinking that ants live only underground and can be obtained +only by tongues like those of the flicker and the ant-bear, which hunt +them there. But ants are abundant on the surface of the ground, and +they excavate long tunnels in rotten wood. The black bear is a famous +ant-hunter, yet his tongue is like a dog's and he gets his ants by +lapping them up after he has torn open the rotten logs in which they +live. This is the way that the sapsucker obtains his ants, and the brush +of stiff hairs is a help to him in such work. We see, then, that it is +not so much the food as the manner of feeding that explains the form of +the tongue. + +The downy and the hairy are a step farther along in their development. +The fourth toe is longer than the others, a condition that we do not +find in any of the woodpeckers not strictly arboreal; the tail is of the +improved pattern, holding by a brush of bristles rather than by one +stiff point at the end of each feather; the bill is heavier, broader at +the base, more heavily ridged, and in every way a stronger tool; and the +tongue is highly extensible and of the spear pattern, sharp-pointed and +barbed with recurved hooks. Everything about these birds indicates that +they are fitted to live on tree-trunks and to dig for borers. This, +indeed, is what they do. + +But the great logcock and the ivory-billed woodpecker, though of the +same type as the other larvae-eating woodpeckers, are more highly +developed along the same line. We notice the great strength of the +feet; the claws, as large and as sharp as a cat's; the enormous weight +and strength of the bill, compared with that of the other woodpeckers, +which enables them to cut into the hardest wood and even into frozen +green timber; and the great development of the tail, which now becomes a +strong spring to support and aid the bird in his work. + +As we try to group these particulars under general heads, we see that we +have observed three things:-- + +_That the structure of a bird is adapted to its kind of life._ + +_That the structure varies by small degrees with the kind of life._ + +_That the kind of life is conditioned largely upon the kind of food and +upon the method of procuring it, more particularly the latter._ + +These are not so much different truths as three aspects of one truth. +When we study the first we see why birds are grouped together into +orders and families: we study their resemblances. When we observe the +second we see why they are divided into species, for we note their +differences. But when we consider the third and reflect that birds have +the power to choose new kinds of food or new places and means of getting +it, we see how it is that there can come to be new kinds of birds, new +subspecies and species, springing up from time to time. Wonderful and +improbable as it seems, there is more reason to believe than there is to +doubt that new kinds of animals and plants are constantly in process of +making; that the laws of change are constantly at work, adapting +creatures to their surroundings or crushing them out of existence +because they will not learn new ways. And it is probable that these +differences which we mark in the woodpeckers have been the result of +efforts to adapt themselves to a peculiar kind of life where food was +abundant; and also that by acquired habits and by acquired tastes for +different kinds of foods they will be subject to still further +variations in the future. + + + + +XVI + +THE ARGUMENT FROM DESIGN + + +But if the birds are making themselves into new species, where is the +place for God in the universe? Did not God make all kinds of creatures +in the beginning? How can they go on being made without God? + +These are questions every one ought to ask, but--did God leave his world +after He had made it and go a long way off? Did He wind it up like a +watch to go till it should run down? Is the world a machine, or is it +alive? + +Long ago the wise and good man Socrates argued that if you did not know +there was a God at all, you could at least infer it because everything +was so wonderfully made. "There is our body," said he: "every part of it +so perfect and so reasonable. Consider how the eyes not only please us +with agreeable sensations but are protected in every way. The eyebrows +stand like a thicket to keep the perspiration from them, the lids are a +curtain to shut out too great light, the lashes screen them from +dust,--everything is planned for some wise and reasonable end. And +where the evidence of design is so convincing must we not believe that +there was a Designer?" Words like these he spoke, and we know because +everything is so perfectly contrived that there must have been a +contriver, who knew all from the beginning. We are compelled to believe +that there is a God. + +Shall we believe it less because we find in the creatures about us +intelligence and the power to care for their own lives? Has God gone on +a visit because these living creatures are looking out for themselves? +Were they made less perfectly in the beginning because when new +conditions surround them they are able to change to meet the strange +requirements? This is not less evidence of a Designer, but more. It was +long said that the existence of a watch was proof of a watchmaker who +had planned and put together all the parts so that they worked +harmoniously. But if the watch had the power to grow small to fit a +small pocket, or large to fit a large one, to become luminous by night, +and to correct its own time by the sun instead of being regulated by +outside interference, what should we have said--that it was proof there +was no watchmaker? or that it showed a far more skillful one, since he +could make a living, self-regulating, adaptive watch? + +And so of the world and the creatures in it. Every evidence we get that +they can care for themselves, that they can adapt themselves to new +conditions, that they are intelligent and reasonable, capable of +improvement in habits or in structure, is so much surer proof that a +wise God made them what they are. Evolution--for that is the name by +which we call these changes--does not take God out of the universe but +makes the need of Him stronger. The argument from design is immensely +strengthened when we consider that we have not only an obedient machine +acting according to a few fundamental rules, but one that is intelligent +also and capable of self-modification. + + + + +APPENDIX + +_Explanation of Terms._ + + +[Illustration: Head of a Flicker.] + + _a._ Forehead; _b._ crown; _c._ occiput; _d._ nape; _e._ chin; _f._ + throat; _g._ jaw-patch, or mustache. + + _Occipital_ means "on the occiput." + + _Nuchal_ means "on the nape." + + _Primaries_ are the nine or ten wing-quills borne upon the last + joint of the wing. + + _Secondaries_ are the wing-quills attached to the fore-arm bones. + + _Tertiaries_ are the wing-quills springing from the upper arm + bones. + + _Wing coverts_ are the shorter lines of feathers overlapping these + long quills. + + _Tail coverts_ are the lengthened feathers that overlap the root of + the tail both above and below, called respectively upper and under + tail coverts. + + _Ear coverts_ are the feathers that over-lie the ear, often + specially modified or colored. + + _Rump_, the space between the middle of the back and the root of + the tail. + + [M] is the sign used to indicate the male sex. + + [F] is the sign used to indicate the female sex. + + A _subspecies_ is a geographical race, modified in size, color, or + proportions chiefly by the influence of climate. These variations + are especially marked in non-migratory birds of wide distribution, + subject, therefore, to climatic extremes. The Downy and the Hairy + Woodpeckers, for example, are split up into numerous races. It + should be remembered that when a species has been separated into + races, or subspecies, all the subspecies are of equal rank, even + though they are differently designated. The one originally + discovered and first described bears the old Latin name which + consisted of two words, while the new ones are designated by triple + Latin names--the old binomial and a new name in addition. The + binomial indicates the form first described. The forms designated + by trinomials may be equally well known, abundant, and widely + distributed. For example, among the woodpeckers, the northern form + of the Hairy Woodpecker was first discovered and bears the name + _Dryobates villosus_; but the first Downy Woodpecker described was + a southern bird, and the northern form was not separated until a + few years ago, so that the southern bird is the type, and the + northern one bears the trinomial, _Dryobates pubescens medianus_. + + _North America_, by the decision of the American Ornithologists' + Union, is held to include the continent north of the present + boundary between Mexico and the United States, with Greenland, the + peninsula of Lower California, and the islands adjacent naturally + belonging to the same. + + The following key and descriptions will enable the student to + identify any woodpecker known to occur within these limits: + +A. KEY TO THE WOODPECKERS OF NORTH AMERICA. + +Family characteristics: color always striking, usually in spots, bars, +or patches of contrasting colors, especially black and white. Sexes +usually unlike; male always with some portion of red or yellow about +head, throat, or neck. Tails stiff, rounded, composed of ten fully +developed pointed feathers (and two undeveloped feathers). Wings large, +rounded, with long, conspicuous secondaries, and short coverts. Bill +straight, stout, of medium length. Toes four, arranged in pairs, except +in the three-toed genus. Iris brown, except when noted. Marked by a +habit of clinging to upright surfaces and digging a deep hole in a +tree-trunk for nesting. Eggs always pearly white. + +I. Very large--18 inches _or more_; conspicuously crested. A. II. Medium +or small--14 inches _or less_; never crested. B. + + A. a^1 Bill gleaming _ivory white_; fourth toe decidedly longest. + Ivory-billed Woodpecker. 1. + + a^2 Bill _blackish_; fourth toe not decidedly longest. + Pileated Woodpecker or Logcock. 14. + + B. a^1 Toes three; [M] with _yellow_ crown. + Three-toed Woodpeckers. 9 & 10. + + a^2 Toes four; crown never yellow (b). + + b^1 _Not spotted nor streaked either above or below_ (c). + + c^1 Body clear black; _head white_. + White-headed Woodpecker. 8. + + c^2 Blue-black above; _rump white_; _head_ and _neck red_. + Red-headed Woodpecker. 15. + + c^3 Greenish black above, with _pinkish red belly_. + Lewis's Woodpecker. 17. + + c^4 Greenish black with _sulphur yellow forehead_ and + _throat._ + Californian Woodpecker. 16. + + c^5 Glossy blue-black with _scarlet throat_ and _yellow + belly_. + Male of Williamson's Sapsucker. 13. + + b^2 _Spotted with black or brown on breast and sides_, + but not streaked nor barred with white (d). + + d^1 _Brown_ spots on breast and sides; upper parts plain + brown. + Arizona Woodpecker. 7. + + d^2 _Black_ spots on breast and sides; wings and tail + brilliantly colored beneath (e). + + e^1 Wings and tail _golden_ beneath; mustaches + _black_ in male, wanting in female. + Flicker. 21. + + e^2 Wings and tail _golden_ beneath; mustaches + _red_ in both sexes. + Gilded Flicker. 23. + + e^3 Wings and tail _golden red_ beneath; mustaches red. + Red-shafted Flicker. 22. + + e^4 Wings and tail _golden red_ beneath; mustaches red; + crown brown. + Guadalupe Flicker. 24. + + b^3 _Streaked, spotted, or barred with white on back and wings_ (f). + + f^1 _Back streaked_, _plain_, or _varied_, _never_ barred + with white; wings _spotted_ with white (g). + + g^1 _Clear_ white and black; _white streak down the + back_ (h). + + h^1 Medium size, 9-11 inches. + Hairy Woodpecker. 2. + + h^2 Small size, 6-7 inches. + Downy Woodpecker. 3. + + g^2 _Grayish_ white and black; _sides closely barred_ (i). + + i^1 Back plain black, white _stripe_ down side of throat. + Female of Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker. 9. + + i^2 Back with interrupted white stripe, white _line_ + down side of throat. + Female of American Three-toed Woodpecker. 10. + (NOTE.--The males are similar with the addition + of the yellow crown. The three toes + cannot ordinarily be seen in life.) + + g^3 _Yellowish_ (often dingy or smutty), white and black; + under parts yellowish; back varied with white, no + line nor streak; _rump white_; _white wing-bars_ (j). + + j^1 Breast with black patch; head of adult with red + patches. + Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. 11. + + j^2 Breast and head red. + Red-breasted Sapsucker. 12. + + f^2 _Back barred with white_; wings spotted or barred with + white (k). + + k^1 Belly _white; ear coverts white_. + Red-cockaded Woodpecker. 4. + + k^2 Belly _white; forehead black_. + Nuttall's Woodpecker. 6. + + k^3 Belly _smoky brown_; forehead and breast same. + Texan Woodpecker. 5. + + k^4 Belly _sulphur or lemon yellow_. + Female of Williamson's Woodpecker. 13. + + k^5 Belly _pinkish red_. + Red-bellied Woodpecker. 18. + + k^6 Belly _yellow_, hind neck and forehead orange. + Golden-fronted Woodpecker. 19. + + k^7 Belly _yellow_, hind neck brown. + Gila Woodpecker. 20. + +B. DESCRIPTIONS OF THE WOODPECKERS OF NORTH AMERICA. + +The following are descriptions of all the species of Woodpeckers found +in North America, arranged in their proper genera and in the order given +in the check list of the American Ornithologists' Union, 1895; with the +range of species and subspecies as defined by the same authority or by +Bendire's "Life Histories of North American Birds." + + 1. CAMPEPHILUS PRINCIPALIS, _Ivory-billed Woodpecker_. + Glossy black except _white secondaries_ (very conspicuous) and + white stripe from beneath ear down neck and shoulders; white + nasal tufts; _bill white_. Both sexes crested; [M] + with scarlet occipital crest, [F] with crest + black. Iris yellow. 20 inches. + Cypress swamps of Gulf States, locally distributed. + The largest, shyest, and rarest of our woodpeckers. + + 2. DRYOBATES VILLOSUS, _Hairy Woodpecker_. + Black and white. Upper parts glossy black with a broad _white + stripe_ down the back; wings thickly spotted with white; under + parts white; three outer pairs of tail feathers white; two white + and two black stripes on sides of head; nasal tufts brownish + white. [M] with scarlet occipital patch. 9-10 + inches. + Eastern United States except South Atlantic and Gulf + States, with the following subspecies, all the races being + resident the year round, and breeding in most places + where they are found:-- + + a. _D. v. leucomelas_, _Northern Hairy Woodpecker_. 10-11 inches. + Larger, whiter. + British America. + + b. _D. v. audubonii_, _Southern Hairy Woodpecker_. 8-8.5 inches. + Smaller, more dingy white. + South Atlantic and Gulf States. + + c. _D. v. harrisii_, _Harris's Woodpecker_. 9-10 inches. + Upper parts with less white, few wing spots, under parts + soiled white or smoky brown; larger than next. + Northwest coast, northern California to Alaska. + + d. _D. v. hyloscopus_, _Cabanis's Woodpecker_. 8.5-9.5 inches. + White stripe down back very wide; purer white below than + _harrisii_; fewer wing spots than _leucomelas_ and _villosus_. + Western United States, except northwest coast, east to + the Rocky Mountains. + + e. _D. v. monticola_, _Rocky Mountain Woodpecker_. 10-11 inches. + Larger; more white spots near bend of wing and secondaries + than _hyloscopus_, fewer than _villosus_; pure white below. + Rocky Mountains west to Uintah Mountains, Utah. + + 3. DRYOBATES PUBESCENS, _Southern Downy Woodpecker_. + Black and white; broad _white stripe_ down back; wings thickly + spotted with white; under parts white. [M] with + scarlet occipital patch. A miniature Hairy Woodpecker, differing + only in having _four_ outer pairs of tail feathers more or less + white and the _outermost barred_. 6.5 inches. Like the Hairy + Woodpecker, the Downy and its subspecies are resident and breed + wherever they occur. + South Atlantic and Gulf States. + + a. _D. p. gairdnerii_, _Gairdner's Woodpecker_. 6.75 inches. + Bears same relation to Downy that Harris's does to Hairy + Woodpecker; under parts smoky white; wings spots few. + Pacific coast north to about lat. 55 deg. + + b. _D. p. oreoecus_, _Batchelder's Woodpecker_. 7.5 inches. + Under parts pure white; under tail coverts unspotted; + fewer wing spots than _medianus_ and _pubescens_. + Rocky Mountain region of United States. + + c. _D. p. medianus_, _Downy Woodpecker_. 7 inches. + The larger, whiter form seen in New England and the + Northern States. + + d. _D. p. nelsoni_, _Nelson's Downy Woodpecker_. + Whiter, larger, with fewer black bars on outer tail + feathers. + Alaska and region north of 55 deg. + + 4. DRYOBATES BOREALIS, _Red-cockaded Woodpecker_. + Upper parts black _barred_ with white, under parts dingy white; + sides streaked and spotted with black; wings spotted with white; + outer tail feathers barred; nasal tufts and _large ear patch + white_; stripe of black down side of neck. [M] with + a tiny tuft of scarlet feathers on each side of head. 7.5-8.5 + inches. + Pine woods of southeastern United States, from Tennessee + southwest to eastern Texas and the Indian Territory; + casual north to Pennsylvania. + + 5. DRYOBATES SCALARIS BAIRDI, _Texan Woodpecker_, _Ladder-backed + Woodpecker_. + Upper parts barred with black and white on back, wings, + and outer tail feathers; sides of head striped; forehead, + nasal feathers, and under parts _smoky gray_, brownest on + belly; _crown speckled with white or red_; [M] + with nape crimson. 7-7.5 inches. + Southern border of United States, Texas to California, + north to southwestern Utah and southern Nevada; generally + resident. + + a. _D. s. lucasanus_, _St. Lucas Woodpecker_. Larger. + Lower California, north to 34 deg. in Colorado desert. + These are both subspecies of a Mexican species not occurring + within our limits. + + 6. DRYOBATES NUTTALLII, _Nuttall's Woodpecker_. + Upper parts barred with black and white; under parts and + _outer tail feathers white_ or dingy white; nasal tufts white; + _forehead and crown black sprinkled with white_. [M] + with red on occiput and nape. 7-7.5 inches. + Southern Oregon and California west of Sierra Nevada + and Cascade Ranges; most common in the oak belt of + the foothills. + Easily distinguished from Downy Woodpecker by being + barred on the back, instead of striped. + + 7. DRYOBATES ARIZONAE, _Arizona Woodpecker_. + _Upper parts plain brown, not spotted nor streaked_; primaries + dotted with fine white dots; outer tail feathers barred; + under parts white, _thickly spotted_ (except throat), _with large, + round, brown spots_. [M] with red occipital band. + 7.5-8.5 inches. + Southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico; among + oaks of the foothills from 4000 to 7000 feet elevation. + + 8. XENOPICUS ALBOLARVATUS, _White-headed Woodpecker_. + Glossy black all over, except showy white patch on primaries, + and _head and throat pure white_ (forehead and crown + sometimes grayish). [M] with broad occipital band of + scarlet. 9 inches. "Iris pinkish red" (Bendire). + Mountains of Pacific coast, east to western Nevada and + western Idaho, usually in the pine and fir forests above + 4000 feet altitude. + + 9. PICOIDES ARCTICUS, _Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker_. + _Glossy black above, unmarked_ except by fine white spots on + primaries; under parts grayish white, sides thickly barred + black and white; three outer pairs of tail feathers white, + sides of throat with broad _white stripe_. [M] with + _large crown patch of deep yellow_. 9.5 inches. + British America, south into the northern tier of States + and into the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Lake Tahoe. + Most commonly seen in the track of forest fires, where it + is usually abundant for about two years; rare outside of the + extensive soft wood tracts, and usually found singly or in + pairs except when on burnt land. I have found this species + far more common than the next, and the best mark in life + to be the white _stripe_ on the neck, in distinction from the + white _line_ of _P. americanus_. + + 10. PICOIDES AMERICANUS, _American Three-toed Woodpecker_. + Very similar to preceding species, but with narrow bars of white + forming an _interrupted stripe down the back_; head thickly + sprinkled with white in both sexes and a white line on nape or + just below; a _white line_, too narrow to be called a stripe, + down side of throat.[M] with _crown bright yellow_. + 9 inches. Same range in the East as last; replaced in West by + following subspecies:-- + + a. _P. a. alascensis_, _Alaskan Three-toed Woodpecker_. + Smaller; more white; nape very white; more white on top + of head. + Alaska, south to 48 deg. (Mt. Baker, Washington). + + b. _P. a. dorsalis_, _Alpine Three-toed Woodpecker_. + More white on back and head than _P. americanus_, less than + _alascensis_; but continuous, not barred. "Iris dark cherry-red" + (Mearns). + Rocky Mountain region, south to New Mexico and Arizona. + + 11. SPHYRAPICUS VARIUS, _Yellow-bellied Sapsucker_. + Under parts whitish or pale sulphur yellow; upper parts black, + mottled with pure or yellowish white; _rump white_; wings + spotted, and with conspicuous white coverts; tail black with + _outer webs of outer feathers_ and _inner webs of middle + feathers light colored_; sides streaked; breast with a _broad + black patch_ extending in a "chin-strap" to the corners of the + mouth; sides of the head striped. Occiput black, nape white. + [M] with forehead, crown, chin, and throat crimson; + [F] usually with crown crimson, forehead black, + and throat white, back more brownish; [F] + sometimes, and young always, with crown blackish. 7.5-8.5 + inches. + + Colors vary much with age, sex, and season; the wing bar + and yellowish tinge are good marks for all plumages; the + rump and breast patch for adult birds. + Eastern North America, breeding from Massachusetts + northward, migrating in winter to the Southern States. + + a. _S. v. nuchalis_, _Red-naped Sapsucker_. + Similar, but an additional red stripe on nape, and the black + chin-strap replaced by crimson. 8-8.5 inches. + Rocky Mountains to Coast Range, replacing the above in + the mountains; usually breeding at from 5000 to 10,000 + feet elevation. + + 12. SPHYRAPICUS RUBER, _Red-breasted Sapsucker_. + Body and under parts similar to _S. varius_, but back much + less variegated with white. No black on breast, no white + stripe through eyes. Nasal tufts brownish instead of white. + _Head_, _neck_, and _breast uniform crimson_. _Sexes alike._ Young + with crimson replaced by gray or "claret brown" (Bendire). + 8.5-9 inches. + Pacific coast, Sierra Nevada, and on both sides of Cascade + Mountains; a summer resident only north of northern + California. + At first sight the Red-breasted Sapsucker might be mistaken + for the Red-headed Woodpecker, but the two birds + do not inhabit the same country. + + 13. SPHYRAPICUS THYROIDEUS, _Williamson's Sapsucker_. + + Sexes totally dissimilar except in having a white rump and + yellow under parts. _Male, glossy black all over except_ + conspicuous _white rump_ and _white wing coverts_, two white + stripes on sides of head, white nasal tufts, white spots on + primaries; sides and tail coverts mottled; a stripe of scarlet + down middle of throat and _brilliant yellow under parts_. + _Female, light brown_; head clear brown; body, wings, and tail + closely _barred_ with black and white; no white wing coverts; + rarely a red throat like male; usually but not always a large + black patch on breast, and always a _yellow belly_ and _white + rump_. Young males lack the red on the throat and usually the + yellow on the belly; the black is dull, and the throat a dingy + white. Young females lack the yellow on the belly and the black + on breast, and are dull-colored and indistinctly marked. 9-9.5 + inches. + + Rocky Mountain region, west to Sierra Nevada, Cascades + and northern Coast Ranges, breeding at from 5000 + to 9000 feet elevation. The handsomest of our woodpeckers. + + 14. CEOPHLOEUS PILEATUS, _Pileated Woodpecker, Logcock_. + Body blackish slate; wings with a large white patch conspicuous + only when flying; throat white; a white stripe + across cheek and down neck; jaw-stripe scarlet in male, + blackish in female; both sexes with scarlet crest, but in the + male the whole top of head (which is slaty black in female) + equally brilliant. This red cap gives the bird the name of + _pileated_. Iris yellow. 17 inches. + Wooded regions of Southern States, Florida to North + Carolina, very rarely near settlements, but far more common + than the following subspecies of the North and + West. + + a. _C. p. abieticola_, _Northern Pileated Woodpecker_. + Larger; more extensive white markings; the black grayer + or browner. + From Virginia northward to 63 deg. in the East, and in the + West among the Rocky Mountains, north of Colorado, to + the northwest coast; a shy woodland bird to be looked + for only in the primitive evergreen forests, though sometimes + occurring in any heavy timber and, in New England, + upon the higher well-wooded mountains. The + largest of the northern woodpeckers; resident. + + 15. _Melanerpes erythrocephalus_, _Red-headed Woodpecker_. + Wings, tail, and upper parts glossy blue-black; rump, exposed + secondaries, and under parts from breast downward + pure white; _head_, _neck_, and _breast crimson._ _Sexes alike._ + Young with red and black wholly or partly replaced by + grayish brown; can be recognized by white markings. 9.5 + inches. + United States, west to Rocky Mountains; rare east of + Hudson River, but ordinarily breeding wherever found; + in winter usually migratory from its northern limits, the + migration depending principally upon the food supply + and depth of snow. + + 16. MELANERPES FORMICIVORUS, _Ant-eating Woodpecker_. + Upper parts, wings, and tail glossy greenish black; _rump_ + and lower parts _white_; white patch on primaries, conspicuous + in flight; upper throat and line about the bill dull + black; _forehead_ with _wide white band_; lower _throat sulphur + yellow_; breast and sides thickly streaked with black and + white. [M] with crown and occiput crimson; + [F] with crown black, occiput crimson. + Iris white. 7-9 inches. + Mexico; western Texas. + + a. _M. f. angustifrons_, _Narrow-fronted Woodpecker_. + Similar, but with a _narrow band of white_ across the _forehead_; + breast and sides not so thickly streaked. + Lower California, never occurring within the borders of + the United States. + + b. _M. f. bairdi_, _Californian Woodpecker_, _El Carpintero_. + Similar to _M. formicivorus_, but the breast black, little + streaked with white except along the sides; yellow of throat + paler, or replaced by white. Iris white. Larger, 7.5-9.5 + inches. + Pacific coast, north into Oregon to 44 deg., east to southern + New Mexico and Texas in the south and to the eastern + slopes of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains in + the north, but more abundant, on the western than on the + eastern slopes of these mountains. + + 17. MELANERPES TORQUATUS, _Lewis's Woodpecker_. + Upper parts, wings, and tail glossy greenish black; under + parts _pinkish red_; chest and _collar round hind neck hoary + gray_; crown and sides of head black; forehead, cheeks, and + chin crimson. _Sexes alike._ Young with pink replaced by + grayish. 10.5-11.5 inches. + Pacific coast, east to Black Hills and Rocky Mountains + between Arizona and 49th parallel; casual still farther + east; migratory in its northern ranges; a silent, heavy + flying bird, different in habits and appearance from the + other woodpeckers; often seen flycatching. + + 18. MELANERPES CAROLINUS, _Red-bellied Woodpecker_, _Zebra Bird_. + Back and wings black, _barred with white_; under and upper + tail coverts, middle and outer tail feathers, white varied with + black; head and under parts ashy; _belly tinged with reddish_. + [M] with whole top of head and nape bright red; + [F] with forehead and nape red, crown gray. 9-10 + inches. + Eastern and Southern States between the Hudson River + and the Rocky Mountains, north to southern New York, + Ohio, southern Michigan, etc.; migratory in its northern + ranges. + + 19. MELANERPES AURIFRONS, _Golden-fronted Woodpecker_. + Back and wings barred with black and white; rump white; entire + under parts brownish white, unspotted (except under tail + coverts); primaries unspotted, except at tip; tail black with + slightly barred outer feathers; _belly yellowish; forehead and + hind neck orange in both sexes_. [M] with _crown + red_ set in a larger patch of clear gray; [F] + with crown clear gray. 9.5 inches. + Central and southern Texas, north to about 33 deg.; breeds + wherever found. + + 20. MELANERPES UROPYGIALIS, _Gila Woodpecker_. + Back and wings barred with black and white; _head and + lower parts smoky brown_; rump black and white; tail barred + on inner and outer feathers; primaries unspotted; belly yellow + (not conspicuous). [M] with red crown surrounded by + brownish; "iris red" (Hayden). 9 inches. + Southwestern New Mexico and Arizona to southeastern + California, usually above 2000 feet altitude; its distribution + depending principally upon the giant cactus. + + 21. COLAPTES AURATUS, _Flicker_, _Yellow-hammer_, _High-hole_, + _Clape_. + Back and wings (except primaries) brownish gray, barred with + black; under parts pale vinaceous spotted with black spots from + breast downward; _rump white; tail and wings golden yellow + beneath_, dark above, showing the yellow shafts; tail feathers + with black tips below; top of head ashy gray, sides of head and + throat vinaceous; a broad _black crescent_ across breast, a + bright scarlet one on nape. [M] _with black jaw + patches_; [F] without them. 12 inches. + South Atlantic and Gulf region, north to North Carolina. + + a. _C. a. luteus_, _Northern Flicker_. + Larger; paler; black bars above narrower; less black and + white below. + North from North Carolina and west to the Rocky Mountains; + casual farther west; migratory from its northern + ranges. + + 22. COLAPTES CAFER, _Red-shafted Flicker_. + Color pattern similar to above with the following differences: + _wings and tail red beneath_ instead of yellow; throat ashy + gray; usually no red on occiput (though some specimens show a + narrow crescent). [M] _with red jaw patches_. + 12.5-14 inches. + Rocky Mountain region west to Pacific coast from + Mexico to British Columbia, except northwest coast + region of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, + and occasionally east to Kansas and Nebraska; resident + except in the more northern portions of its range. + + a. _C. c. saturatior_, _Northwestern Flicker_. + Darker; smaller; narrower breast crescent. + Northwest coast, replacing the above, from which it cannot + be separated in life. + + 23. COLAPTES CHRYSOIDES, _Gilded Flicker_; _Cactus Flicker_. + Color pattern same as _C. auratus_, but throat gray; top of head + brown; _occiput without band_; tail band broader and yellow + paler than in _C. auratus_. [M] with _jaw patches + bright red_; "iris blood red" (Hayden). + Central and southern Arizona and Lower California. + + a. _C. c. brunescens_, _Brown Flicker_. + A curious subspecies of the last, smaller, with larger, + more numerous spots and a smoky brown cast of plumage; + black tail band very wide; jaw patches red; wings and tail + yellow beneath. + Lower (not southern) California; casual only in southern + California; in Arizona to 35 deg. + + 24. COLAPTES RUFIPILEUS, _Guadalupe Island Flicker_. + Coloration like _C. cafer_, crown decidedly brown; crescent + on nape wanting; jaw patches red; wings and tail _red_ beneath. + Guadalupe Island off the coast of Lower California. + + + + +INDEX + + + Aard-vark, 104. + + Acorns, eaten by woodpeckers, 46, 51, 57, 58, 59. + + Acquired habits, 61-66. + + Adaptations of woodpeckers to environment,104-109. + + Ant-bear, 104, 106. + + Ants, as food for woodpeckers, 3, 30, 63, 105, 106. + + Argument from design, 110. + + + Bear, black, 107. + + Beechnuts, as food for woodpeckers, 57, 58, 59. + + Beetles, as food for woodpeckers, 3, 11, 63. + + Bill of woodpeckers as a tool, 68-76. + + Borers, 3, 10, 11, 29, 30, 36. + + Burroughs, John, quoted, 17. + + + Cacti, woodpeckers nesting in, 20. + + Cannibalism among woodpeckers, 64. + + Carpenter, the. _See_ California woodpecker. + + Carpintero, El. _See_ California woodpecker. + + Caterpillars, as food for woodpeckers, 10, 11, 29, 63. + + Cecropia chrysalids, eaten by woodpeckers, 9. + + Chestnuts, eaten by woodpeckers, 59. + + Chickadee, 16, 21, 25, 30, 32, 74. + + Chipmunks, hoarding food, 60. + + Clape. _See_ Flicker. + + Creeper, brown, 5, 81, 87, 88. + + Crossbills, eating salted food, 31. + + Crow, hoarding habit, 60; 74. + + Cuckoo, ground, 82. + + Cuckoos, yoke-toed, 5, 82. + + + Drumming of yellow-bellied sapsucker, 16, 17. + + + Evolution, 109, 112. + + + Feeding young, how the flicker does it, 24, 25. + + Fence-posts used by woodpeckers, 48, 56, 58. + + Finch, purple, 39. + + Finches, 74. + + Fish-spears, 12, 13. + + Flicker, 6, 7, 15, 18, 20, 23-26, 73, 74, 82, 88, 89, 95, 97-99, + 101, 103, 106, 125. + brown, 126. + cactus, 126. + gilded, 126. + Guadalupe Island, 127. + northern, 126. + northwestern, 126. + red-shafted, 126. + + Flycatching habits of woodpeckers, 7, 56, 106, 124. + + Foot, of a four-toed woodpecker figured, 77. + of a three-toed woodpecker figured, 80. + discussed as a tool, 77-85. + + + Grasshoppers, as food for woodpeckers, 3, 56, 63. + + Grosbeaks, pine, 39. + + Grouse, ruffed, 14, 15. + + Grouse, sharp-tailed, 15. + + + Hawk, sparrow, 21. + + High-hole. _See_ Flicker. + + Hoarding habits, 62, 63. + + Hummingbird, Anna's, 27. + + Hummingbirds, 25, 103. + + Hyoid bones, 100-103. + + + Jay, blue, hoarding habit, 53, 60. + + + Kinglets, 5. + + + Lightning rods attracting woodpeckers, 18. + + Logcock. _See_ Woodpecker, pileated. + + + Maple, rock and red, sugar made from, 36. + + Maize, eaten by English sparrows, 62, 65. + + Mandibles of woodpeckers, 13, 101. + + Martin, sand, 20. + + Mice, hoarding habit, 60. + + Migration, dependent upon food supply, 63. + + Mountain-ash trees, sought by woodpeckers, 38. + + + Nesting of woodpeckers, 20-23. + + Nests, in unusual places, 20. + + North America, ornithologically defined, 114. + + Nuthatches, 5, 21, 30, 81. + + + Oaks, used by Californian woodpecker for storing nuts, 48, 49. + + Oranges, eaten by woodpeckers, 65, 66. + + Owls, 15, 21, 80. + + + Pangolin, as an ant-eater, 104. + + Parrot, 13, 82. + + Parroquet, Carolina, 5. + + Pigeon, domestic, 27. + + Pines, acorns stored in, 49. + + "Ploughshare," anchylosed vertebrae of tail, 86. + + + Ravens, 74. + + Reason in woodpeckers' hoarding, 62. + + Red-head. _See_ Woodpecker, red-headed. + + Robins, 39. + + + Sap, not used as an insect-lure, 41. + how its loss harms the tree, 44, 45. + + Sapsucker, orange, 65. _See, also_, Woodpecker, red-bellied. + red-breasted, 122. + red-naped, 121. + Williamson's, 122. + yellow-bellied, 7, 15-17, 33-45, 59, 102, 103, 105, 106. + + Skull of woodpecker figured, 101. + + Sparrow, English _or_ house, 21, 62, 65. + + Spears, 12, 13. + + Spruce, acorns stored in, 47, 49, 53. + + Squirrels, thievishness of, 23, 53. + + Subspecies defined, 114. + + Swallow, eaves _or_ cliff, 61, 64, 65. + + Swallow, tree, 21. + + Swift, chimney, 5, 20, 61, 87, 88. + + + Tail, shape, 89. + number of rectrices, 95. + experimental demonstration of shape _a priori_, 91. + reason for shape, 98. + + Tail-feathers studied, 94-97. + + Taste in the woodpeckers, 38, 39. + + Telegraph poles resorted to by woodpeckers, 7, 18, 48. + + Thumb, of birds, 80. + + Tin roofs resorted to by woodpeckers, 17, 55. + + Titmouse, crested, 21. + + Toes, numbering of, 79, 80. + + Tongue, appearance of, 99. + figured, 99. + bones of, 13, 100-103. + + Trogons, yoke-toed, 82. + + + Vanessa butterfly, 16. + + Vegetable food of woodpeckers, 3, 31. + + Vireos, 30. + + + Warblers, 30. + + Weevils, not the object in storing nuts, 52. + + Woodpecker, Alaskan three-toed, 121. + alpine three-toed, 121. + American three-toed, 121. + ant-eating, 123. + arctic three-toed, 120. + Arizona, 120. + Batchelder's, 118. + black-breasted, 6. _See, also_, Williamson's sapsucker. + Cabanis's, 118. + Californian, 46-54, 56, 66. + downy, 6, 17, 21, 28-33, 59, 63, 70, 74, 83, 86, 88, 95, 107, + 114, 118. + Gairdner's, 118. + Gila, 55, 125. + golden-fronted, 55, 102, 125. + hairy, 6, 9, 28, 32, 59, 63, 74, 83, 86, 88, 89, 95, 97-99, 107, + 114, 117. + Harris's, 118. + ivory-billed, 70, 71, 73, 83, 88, 89, 93, 97, 98, 107, 117. + ladder-backed, 119. + Lewis's, 6, 13, 55, 59, 66, 103, 124. + narrow-fronted, 124. + Nelson's downy, 119. + northern hairy, 118. + northern pileated, 123. + Nuttall's, 119. + pileated, 6, 71, 73, 83, 88, 93, 95, 98, 99, 107, 123. + red-bellied, 6, 55, 65, 124. + red-cockaded, 119. + red-headed, 6, 7, 11, 55-58, 60-64, 105, 123. + Rocky Mountain, 118. + St. Lucas, 119. + southern downy, 118. + southern hairy, 118. + Texan, 119. + three-toed, foot figured, 80. + white-headed, 120. + + Woodpeckers, advantages of, as subject for study, 2. + bill as a tool, 69-73. + carpenters or miners, 68. + character of, 7, 8. + coloration of, 5. + coloration of sexes, 6. + covered nostrils, 74, 75. + favorite haunts, 3, 7. + foot, structure and uses, 77. + habit of drumming, 17. + how to recognize the woodpeckers, 4. + inferences from study of bills, 75. + hunting borers, 10, 11. + nesting, 21, 22. + preferred foods, 3, 7. + tail, study of, 86-99. + winter quarters, 22. + wooing, 15. + + + Yoke-toed feet, 82. + + + Zebra bird. _See_ Woodpecker, red-bellied. + + + + + The Riverside Press + + _Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. + Cambridge, Mass, U. S. A._ + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcribers Notes + +Pickaxe and pick-axe both used in the text +Various punctuation and other printing errors corrected +Inconsistent hyphenation of words regularised +Spelling of reecho (page 16) left intact +Male symbol shown as [M] Female symbol shown as [F] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Woodpeckers, by Fannie Hardy Eckstorm + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WOODPECKERS *** + +***** This file should be named 35062.txt or 35062.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/0/6/35062/ + +Produced by Bryan Ness, Steve Read and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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