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[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 ()                         _Frontispiece_

    Boring Larva                                          10

    Indian Spear                                          12

    Solomon Islander's Spear                              13

    Downy Woodpecker ()                   _facing_ 28

    Bark showing Work of Sapsucker                        34

    Yellow-bellied Sapsucker ()           _facing_ 34

    Trunk of Tree showing Work of Californian Woodpecker  47

    Californian Woodpecker ()             _facing_ 48

    Red-headed Woodpecker ()              _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  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