The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-17

"The Woodpeckers," by Fannie Hardy
Eckstorm, is book on natural history,
of kind which cannot be multiplied too
rapidly. The author takes up a single
family of common birds, and devotes this
little volume to a comprehensive account
of their nature, habits, and structure.
There are five colored plates and several
drawings illustrating the physical make
up of the birds in question, and the col
ored plates are among the most charm
ing bits of work of this kind in recent
publications. They are not only accurate
from a scientific point of view, but ex-
quisitely artistic. The style of the book
is also happy combination of the scien-
tiic and the entertaining 1t will be de-
lightful, not only to young people, but to
older lovers of nature.
The subject is introduced to the reader
after this fashion:
Long ago in Greece. the legend
runs, a terrible monster called the
Sphinx used to waylay travellers 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 Kidding.
To-day there is no Sphinx to fear,
yet the world is full of unguessed rid
dies. No thoughtful man can go far
afeld but some bird or flower or stone
ing 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 rid
dlers, the birds and flowers and bees,
are always ready for new victim,
putting their heads together over some
new enigma to bar the road to knOwl-
edge till that, too, shall be answered.;
so that other mems learning does not
always suffice.
And here is an account of the woodpeck-
er's house-butldtng;
THE first step in building is to strike
out a circle in the bark as large as
the doorway is to be; that is, from an
inch and a half to three or four inches
in diameter according to the size of
the woodpecker. 1t is nearly always
ii perfect circle Try, If you please,
to draw freehand circle of dots as
accurate as that which the woodpeck-
er strikes out hurriedly with his bill,
and see whether it is easy to do
well as he does.
IF the size and shape of the door
way suit him, the Woodpecker scales
off the bark inside his circle of holes
and begins his hard work. He seems
10 take off his coat and work in his
shirt sleeves. so vigorously does he
labor as he clings with his stout toes
braced in position by his pointed tail.
The chips fly out past him, or if they
with his bill and epeIts again at the
same place. The pair take turns at
the work Who knows how long they
work before resting? Do they take
turns of equal length? Does one work
more than the Other2 A pair of flick
ers will dig about two inches in a day,
the hole being nearly two and 4 half
inches in diameter. A week or more
is consumed in digging the nest which.
among the fickers is commonly from
ten to eighteen inches deep. The hole
usually runs in horizontally for few
inches and then curves down. ending
in chamber large enough to make a
comfortable nest for the mother and
her babies.
What a good time the little ones
have in their hole Rain and frost
cannot chill them: no enemy but the
red squirrel is likely to disturb them
There they lie in their warm. dark
chamber looking up at the ray of
light that comes in the doorway. I'M
I'll at last they hear the scra tchinG of
their mothers feet as she alights on
the outside of the tree and chambers mp
to feed them, what piping and call
ing they raise inside the hole, and
how they all scramble up the walls
of their chamber and thrust out their
beaks To be fed, till the old tree looks
ms if il were blossOming with little
woodpeckers' hungry mouths
The author also discusses the shape of
the woodpecker's bill. tail, and feet, and
there is an interesting chapter showing
how the shape of the tail is precisely that
which is best fitted to its use-that of
helping to support the bird as he clings
to a vertical support and hammers away
at his work 1t is also shown how the
foot has been evolved to suit the neces-
stiles of the woodpecker's life. and why
different varieties, of woodpeckers vary
in certain physical respects. The author
has. in fact, done her work as compre-
hensively. as well. and as thoroughly as
it could possibly have been done, either