. The world of animal life. Zoology. THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE You would find, too, that the woodpecker's tongue is extremely long, and also very slender; so that it can be passed into a very narrow hole. This tongue is very sticky, like that of the toad, and there is a kind of little brush at the tip. And so, if it were only to touch an insect in its burrow, it could easily drag it out. Then you would notice that the feet of the bird are very curiously made; for two of the long toes are directed forwards and two backwards, while each has a sharp, curved claw. This is to enable the bird to clin
. The world of animal life. Zoology. THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE You would find, too, that the woodpecker's tongue is extremely long, and also very slender; so that it can be passed into a very narrow hole. This tongue is very sticky, like that of the toad, and there is a kind of little brush at the tip. And so, if it were only to touch an insect in its burrow, it could easily drag it out. Then you would notice that the feet of the bird are very curiously made; for two of the long toes are directed forwards and two backwards, while each has a sharp, curved claw. This is to enable the bird to cling easily to the upright trunk of a tree. But, in order to help it in doing so, its tail, which is very short and stiff, is set at such an angle with the body that the bird can rest upon it when it is clinging to a tree-trunk. When, therefore, a woodpecker is engaged in digging out an insect from a tree, it really sits upon its tail, which serves as a kind of stool. Thus we see that nature, besides giving the woodpecker a special work to do, has also furnished it with special tools, as it were, with which to do it. Once a pair of woodpeckers made a very ridiculous mistake. Some telegraph wires had been put up, and the birds, hearing the humming sound which these wires make when there is a slight breeze, thought that it was caused by insects which were burrowing in the posts. So they set to work to dig them out, and chipped away so diligently that they made a big hole in the post, and very nearly cut their way out at the other side!. Woodpecker. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Smith, Fred, pseud. , ed. London, Glasgow [etc. ] Blackie and son, Ltd.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1910
