. Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds . terminated. Theparrot alights upon the back of sheep, and with its sharpbeak tears away at the flesh, killing the animal. At onestation on the Matataahn nineteen sheep were killed in asingle month by these small birds, and in another flock ofthree hundred and ten lambs, two hundred and five werekilled in five months. The sheep owners were forced toorganize against the parrots, and men were hired to shootthem wherever found. The owl parrot of New Zealand appears to resemble bothbirds, having the face of an owl but the body of a is altoge
. Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds . terminated. Theparrot alights upon the back of sheep, and with its sharpbeak tears away at the flesh, killing the animal. At onestation on the Matataahn nineteen sheep were killed in asingle month by these small birds, and in another flock ofthree hundred and ten lambs, two hundred and five werekilled in five months. The sheep owners were forced toorganize against the parrots, and men were hired to shootthem wherever found. The owl parrot of New Zealand appears to resemble bothbirds, having the face of an owl but the body of a is altogether a singular appearing bird. WOODPECKERS, CUCKOOS, ETC. The Indians of certain tribes in California weave beauti-ful baskets which have a reddish, cloudy effect. Examina-tion will show that this effect is due to the fact that thered feathers of the California woodpecker have beenwoven in the basket. The woodpeckers are valuable allies to the farmer, de-stroying a vast number of insects injurious to vegetation. 212 WOODPECKERS, CUCKOOS, Fig. 188. — Tongue of a Woodpecker. The feet are strong. The toes are arranged two in frontand two behind, so that the birds can readily climb trees. The bill is strong,powerful, andpointed. Thetongue (Fig. 188)is long and hookedto reach into holesand more attract-ive birds are seen in the forest than the richly hued wood-peckers, running about the trunks and limbs, and tappingthe bark as they move. They discover at once by thesound the lurking place of aninsect or grub, and then poundthe bark until it crumbles awayand the grub is secured. Aboutthree hundred and fifty species ofthese birds are known, the flicker(Fig. 189) being one of the mostfamiliar. In the eastern UnitedStates a striking and conspicuousform is the pileated woodpecker(Fig. 190), with a red crest and apeculiar white streak from thelong, sharp bill downward. A fewyears ago this bird was very com-mont but for some reason it isgradually disappearing. The ivor
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1906
