Woodpecker
in ornithology, the popular name of the old Linnæan genus Picus, now greatly divided. Woodpeckers have a slender body, powerful beak, and protrusile tongue, which is sharp, barbed and pointed, and covered with a glutinous secretion derived from glands in the throat, this coating being renewed every time the tongue is drawn within the bill. The tail is stiff, and serves as a support when the birds are clinging to the branches or stems of trees. The plumage is generally of strongly contrast- W. いいい!
Mil PLEATED WOODPECKER ed colors, black and white, or green and yellow, with red marks about the head.
Woodpeckers are very widely distributed, but abound chiefly in warm climates. They are solitary in habit, and live in the depths of forests. Fruits, seeds, and insects constitute their food, and in pursuit of the latter they exhibit wonderful dexterity, climbing with astonishing quickness on the trunks and branches of trees, and when, by tapping with their bills, a rotten place has been discovered, they dig vigorously in search of the grubs or larvæ beneath the bark.
The common notion that they are injurious to trees is erroneous, as they do more good by preventing the ravages of in- WOODSTOCK sects than harm by their pecking. They roost and breed in hollow trunks, or holes in trees, enlarged by their strong, sharp bills; the eggs, which are white, smooth, and glossy, vary considerably in number, and are deposited on a bed of chips at the bottom of the hole.