The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-08-08


dove, the meadoW-lark and the robin
have suffered more than the wood
ps1kers from ignorant glInners; yet the
latter birds DO almost no harm and an
immense amount of good. That il is
one OF the greatest plumbers to kill any
Of them is evident from the summary
Of the food habits of this interesting
family given by Professor S. H. Good
win before the writer's classes in nature
work at the university.
The American Woodpeekers.
XV.-The fifteenth order picD is de-
voted to woOdpeckers alone. Some
thing ike $50 species are known 20
science, and Of this number, about one
half are to be found on the western
hemisphere and forty-five in the United
States So far as known, wOOdpeckers
are not to be found in Australia and
Madagascar.
The members of this order, which has
but one family, are climbers, with
stout pointed bills. nOstrils with bris-
ties; tail feathers stiffened and pointed;
feet strong and having two toes in
front and two behind, save in a single
genus.
The close relation between structure
and habis is strikingly illustrated in the
birds of this order The character and
arrangement of the toes enable them %
grasp the bark of trees on which they
move about. The pointed tail feathers
-Sunened for the puFpOse-assist them
Do maintaining their position while eX-
gavating for their nests or capturing
their food. The bill is particularly well
suited 10 the work TO be accomplished;
with il these birds chisel out their
Ina Of
trees or dig tunnels in banks, and with
the same useful instruments they get
food. The tongue also is specially fit
led for the manner of life of these birds.
The tongues of some are spear-pointed.
WITH small barbs which enable the
eras To impale the grub found by Dor
ing into the trees and to draw il cut of
us burrow. Others have tongues fur
-Shed with a sort of brush" on the
end. and this is provided with a sticky
substance which makes it possible for
these birds 10 collect and wipe" out
OF their hiding places such insects as
are TO be met with IN holes in the
ground and elsewhere. Such a prOVis-
lon is exceedingly useful when the
A.ther sets at work TO clear out
colony of ants.
A curious thing about the tongues Of
Nooapeckers is that in place of termi-
hating at the back of the mouth. they
curve up over the back of the skull,
across the top of the head and down on
me L1rehead2 In some cases, as in that
o. the flicker, the tongue enters the
opening of the right nostril and extends
...Nar5 10 the end Of the bill. so that
me tongue is practically twice as long
as the head.
Ten Gnarfae - IIFah
OF Wo7lpeckers. we have in Utah the
HaIlls. the Cabanis, the Rocky noun
.a.a hairy the Gardner. the Batchel-
... The Texan. the Alpine three-toed.
-.e Tag-naped sapsucker. the william
Lra red-headed. the Lewis and the
'7--slalted flicker.
U. These. the Harris and Gardner be
'''- Ttler west, but come into Utah.
q. .' many other eastern and western
-.' they are not often seen. how
even The red-headed woOdpeCker is
SD far as 7 know. Ridgway's rec
--- .- The only one for the state.
The Downy Bstchelder.
The Stakeholder is the form of the
-."H5 that is most frequently to be
-5. with i'm Utah. 1t is resident. and
nay atteuer be seen in central Utah
--.Ag the winter than at any other
-.'''-. partly because. save in the spring
rarely makes "a sound, but indus
--'-s4y works i'm the orchards. and up
UT NE trees of tine city's streets, bound o.
.- nom one TO another with only an
1s2nal chip" This bird is of the
5-eatesr service and value 10 the fruit
en- as he CLEANS all his food from
-.e trees, where he punctures the CO.
.l-> or the cooling moth, and destroys
.-.5e numbers of the larvae of otner
insects. as well as the insects them
ewes. such as ants scale insects and
-@terpllsrs.
Red-Naped and Texan.
lie red-naped sapsucker is fairly
l----a0n at Ereater altitudes-EoIng as