Show dfasy ausy woodpeckers Woop ecKers 7 I 1 A woodpeckers woodpecker tongue Is a concealed spear prepared by Nal tonal G graphic society washing t on D C Q have recently discovered s in the dark rain drenched drench cd forests of haiti a species of woodpecker which builds its own apartment house they reported seeing a dozen pairs of woodpeckers going in and out of nests in a single dead tree trunk there are few birds that so satisfactorily facto rily reveal their family connection as do the woodpecker the beginner in bird study may learn that the meadowlark belongs to the family but he may be excused if he does docs not learn at once that the bobolink the oriole and the red winged blackbird all strikingly different in habits and color belong to the same family ile he may study the wood thrush and be surprised to find later that the robin and the bluebird bear to it a close family relationship but if he be becomes thoroughly familiar with the appearance and activities of just one woodpecker he will thereafter be able to recognize at once any other member of the family which he may encounter woodpeckers are of wide distribution they inhabit all the countries of the globe except madagascar and the australian region more than bobr hundred species are known and many geographical races of these have been described in north america the family Is represented by ten genera classified into 22 species several of which in turn are divided into subspecies or geographical races in all 64 kinds of woodpeckers are recognized in continental united states canada and baja california sensible and busy birds woodpeckers give the impression of being practical sensible birds under ordinary circumstances they do not show a hysterical fear of man they are wary but do not let that interfere with their work they are very busy birds and most of the time are absorbed in climbing about tree trunks and limbs they get along together fairly well one sees few ew serious combats among them they do not possess the stately dl dignity of the heron the singing powers of the thrush or the graceful flight of the swallow woodpeckers do not stir the imagination to thoughts of distant lands as does the wild goose when far overland we see him leading his flock toward the frozen pole the woodpeckers are known rather as hardworking substantial citizens of the bird world rendering service which could III be spared these birds possess highly specialized cial equipment tor for their business of getting a living they are the only birds in our country that can dig holes in solid trees As a group they pass most of their days pecking decayed trees or stumps for ants or the larvae of wood boring beetles no other bird leaves behind such striking e ellenee el denee of its presence A hundred thousand warblers warb lers may migrate through a small region and many may remain for the summer and rear their young when they have gone little sign of their former presence Is left behind but a halt half dozen woodpeckers in the same community will leave very definite evidence of their occupancy numerous holes to in dead trees with here and there an entrance to a nesting cavity will all bear convincing testimony that these birds have been in the forests and the orchards of the neighborhood woodpeckers woodpecker best in hollows which they dig in trees and all of them lay white hite eggs on a bed of fine chips at the bottom of the cavities their toes usually number four two of them pointing forward and the others backward this arrangement enables the birds to grasp firmly the side of a tree and especially Is this the case when they brace themselves with their twelve long stiff tall fl feathers athers ons one kind goes after sap the sapsucker a species of woodpecker Is looked upon with serious disfavor by foresters and some variety of it being found in nearly every part of the country this ills dislike U e arises from its universal custom of 0 pecking holes in live trees the bird does this chiefly to get the sap ilitch hows flows upward through the soft cambium lying just beneath the bast or inner bark and it also eats the camb cambium lurn and bast to get this food the sapsucker drills holes in rings around the tree or at times in rows on the trunk or along a limb As the sap collects in the openings it Is consumed by the bird until the little springs begin to fan fall when another series of holes Is made near the birst one thus the work continues until large areas of the tree may be covered with these perforations the sapsucker will take the sap of maple mountain ash pear plum apple cherry oak peach spruce an and d ironwood trees and of almost all sp cles of pines firs hemlocks cedars cypress or cottonwoods cotton woods in the northern forests where many sapsuckers sap suckers spend the summer numerous birch trees are killed annually by them in the northwest where at times sapsuckers sap suckers are usually plentiful whole apple orchards have been destroyed in some trees such as maples walnuts and hickories their holes often pierce the sap wood beneath the cambium in ID the subsequent growth of the trees these wounds sometimes cause curly or birdseye birds eye wood well known to lumbermen more often however this exposure of the wood allows insects fungi or bacteria to enter these cause blemishes or decayed areas which reduce in value the lumber which later may be cut from the tree about the rings of holes made by these birds in locusts and sycamores amores shoots often sprout from adventitious buds and thus the symmetry of the tree Is marred not only are hundreds of thousands of trees injured by sapsuckers sap suckers but a considerable proportion of those that are attacked the die either the same year or subsequently the woodpeckers do not confine their attentions wholly to trees they make their explorations for sap through the bark of various large vines such for example as the virginia creeper poison ivy rattan and trumpet creeper close about the nesting tree of the sapsucker there are various trees w where here the old birds go for their sap and where they take their young when they leave the nest here the family SP spends ends the summer with an abundance of normal food supply at hand at this season they eat also ants ant s flies beetles and various other insects which are drawn to the flowing springs of sweet sap other woodpeckers come to these little fountains as well as humming birds warblers warb lers and at times red squirrels flicker it Is the th best known among the woodpeckers the flicker Is a bird of distinctive perso personality naUty and it attracts universal attention undoubtedly it Is known to far more people than are the other woodpeckers its local names are numerous Issen bird golden winged woodpecker highholder high holder pigeon woodpecker and yellow ham mer are some of them of late years the custom has developed of adopting a state bird already choice has been made by the organizations of 43 states and in alabama not long ago the question of which bird should be chosen created hot discussion in the end the yel low hammer was decided upon the tha fight for its name dame was led by a patriotic organization members of which called attention to the historic fact that a company of alabama youths had placed the birds feathers in their caps and designating themselves yellow hammers had marched away singing to the civil war the redheaded red headed beaded woodpeckers and others of the family will now and then dart down to a road or to the lawn to capture an insect or to pick up an acorn but when the flicker drops to the ground he remains there for some time often until frightened away in the woods the field or the garden one may come upon him hopping awkwardly through the grass ills his chief interest at such times Is 1 ants with constitute 50 per cent of his food he secures them by use ne of his remarkable tongue which can be thrust outward two and a halt half inches or more beyond the end of the bill ball ills his tongue is at all times covered with a sticky saliva which catches and holds the ants as they rush forward to attack what appears to be a long worm that has crawled across their path or entered their burrow this tongue Is a very wonderful organ in the mouth it branches and the two horns pass up the rear of the skull on top they meet and close together 9 the two parts run forward and downward over the right eye to the nostril which they enter and extend onward to the end of the bill how they feed their young like other woodpeckers these birds feed their young by regurgitation when the little ones are old enough to come to the mouth of the nesting hole bole to be fed this operation way may often be observed the parent puts its bill into the mouth of a nestling and repeatedly stabs downward in a most alarming manner some fl ickers have the curious habit of continuing to lay an egg dally daily it if before the clutch Is completed all the eggs except one are arc taken being careful always to leave one nest egg joseph Ar armfield infield of greensboro N OL 0 was the cause of one of these birds laying 32 eggs in 35 days ordinarily a flicker lays four or five eggs |