<h2>II</h2>
<h3>HOW THE WOODPECKER CATCHES A GRUB</h3>
<p>Did you ever see a hairy woodpecker strolling
about a tree for what he could pick up?</p>
<p>There is a <i>whur-r-rp</i> of gay black and white
wings and the flash of a scarlet topknot as, with
a sharp cry, he dashes past you, strikes the
limb solidly with both feet, and instantly sidles
behind it, from which safe retreat he keeps a
sharp black eye fixed upon your motions. If
you make friends with him by keeping quiet, he
will presently forgive you for being there and
hop to your side of the limb, pursuing his ordinary
work in the usual way, turning his head
from side to side, inspecting every crevice, and
picking up whatever looks appetizing. Any
knot or little seam in the bark is twice scanned;
in such places moths and beetles lay their eggs.
Little cocoons are always dainty morsels, and
large cocoons contain a feast. The butterfly-hunter
who is hoping to hatch out some fine
cecropia moths knows well that a large proportion
of all the cocoons he discovers will be empty.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</SPAN></span>
The hairy woodpecker has been there before him,
and has torn the chrysalis out of its silken cradle.
For this the farmer should thank him
heartily, even if the butterfly-hunter does not,
for the cecropia caterpillar is destructive.</p>
<p>But sometimes, on the fair bark of a smooth
limb, the woodpecker stops, listens, taps, and begins
to drill. He works with haste and energy,
laying open a deep hole. For what? An apple-tree
borer was there cutting out the life of
the tree. The farmer
could see no sign of
him; neither could
the woodpecker, but
he could hear the strong grub down in his little
chamber gnawing to make it longer, or, frightened
by the heavy footsteps on his roof, scrambling
out of the way.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/fig_001.jpg" alt="Boring larva." title="" />
<br/>
<span class="caption">Boring larva.</span></div>
<p>It is easy to hear the borer at work in the
tree. When a pine forest has been burned and
the trees are dead but still standing, there will
be such a crunching and grinding of borers eating
the dead wood that it can be heard on all
sides many yards away. Even a single borer
can sometimes be heard distinctly by putting the
ear to the tree. Sound travels much farther
through solids than it does through air; notice
how much farther you can hear a railroad train<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</SPAN></span>
by the click of the rails than by the noise that
comes on the air. Even our dull ears can detect
the woodworm, but we cannot locate him.
How, then, is the woodpecker to do what we
cannot do?</p>
<p>Doubtless experience teaches him much, but
one observer suggests that the woodpecker places
the grub by the sense of touch. He says he
has seen the red-headed woodpecker drop his
wings till they trailed along the branch, as if
to determine where the vibrations in the wood
were strongest, and thus to decide where the
grub was boring. But no one else appears to
have noticed that woodpeckers are in the habit
of trailing their wings as they drill for grubs.
It would be a capital study for one to attempt
to discover whether the woodpecker locates his
grub by feeling, or whether he does it by hearing
alone. Only one should be sure he is looking
for grubs and not for beetles’ eggs, nor for
ants, nor for caterpillars. By the energy with
which he drills, and the size of the hole left
after he has found his tidbit, one can decide
whether he was working for a borer.</p>
<p>But when the borer has been located, he has
yet to be captured. There are many kinds of
borers. Some channel a groove just beneath the
bark and are easily taken; but others tunnel<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</SPAN></span>
deep into the wood. I measured such a hole
the other day, and found it was more than eight
inches long and larger than a lead-pencil, bored
through solid rock-maple wood. The woodpecker
must sink a hole at right angles to this
channel and draw the big grub out through his
small, rough-sided hole. You would be surprised,
if you tried to do the same with a pair
of nippers the size of the woodpecker’s bill, to
find how strong the borer is, how he can buckle
and twist, how he braces himself against the
walls of his house. Were your strength no
greater than the woodpecker’s, the task would
be much harder. Indeed, a large grub would
stand a good chance of getting away but for
one thing, the woodpecker <i>spears</i> him, and
thereby saves many a dinner for himself.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/fig_002.jpg" alt="Indian spear." class="wide1" title="" />
<br/>
<span class="caption">Indian spear.</span></div>
<p>Here is a primitive Indian fish-spear, such as
the Penobscots used. To the end of a long
pole two wooden jaws are tied loosely enough to
spring apart a little under pressure, and midway
between them, firmly driven into the end of the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</SPAN></span>
pole, is a point of iron. When a fish
was struck, the jaws sprung apart under
the force of the blow, guiding the iron
through the body of the fish, which was
held securely in the hollow above, that
just fitted around his sides, and by the
point itself.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/fig_003.jpg" class="widetiny" alt="Solomon Islander's spear." title="" />
<br/>
<span class="caption">Solomon Islander's spear.</span></div>
<p>The tool with which the woodpecker
fishes for a grub is very much the same.
His mandibles correspond to the two movable
jaws. They are knife-edged, and the
lower fits exactly inside the upper, so that
they give a very firm grip. In addition,
the upper one is movable. All birds can
move the upper mandible, because it is
hinged to the skull. (Watch a parrot
some day, if you do not believe it.) A
medium-sized woodpecker, like the Lewis’s,
can elevate his upper mandible at least a
quarter of an inch without opening his
mouth at all. This enables him to draw
his prey through a smaller hole than
would be needed if he must open his
jaws along their whole length. Between
the mandibles is the sharp-pointed
tongue, which can be thrust entirely through a
grub, holding him impaled. Unlike the Indian’s
spear-point, the woodpecker’s tongue is<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</SPAN></span>
barbed heavily on both sides, and it is extensile.
As a tool it resembles the Solomon Islander’s
spear. A medium-sized woodpecker can dart his
tongue out two inches or more beyond the tip of
his bill. A New Bedford boy might tell us, and
very correctly, that the woodpecker <i>harpoons</i>
his grub, just as a whaleman harpoons a whale.
If the grub tries to back off into his burrow,
out darts the long, barbed tongue and spears
him. Then it drags him along the crooked
tunnel and into the narrow shaft picked by the
woodpecker, where the strong jaws seize and
hold him firmly.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</SPAN></span></p>
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