"The stork, heron, and crane are fishing birds.""I think the woodpecker is a very wonderfulbird," said Fred. "This is a bird that feeds on worms, grubs, and insects, which eat their way into the trees. It cannot, of course, see these little creatures inside the stem of the tree, but it seems to know exactly where to find them.
"It has a long, straight, pointed beak, very hard and strong. It finds out its prey by tapping on the bark of the tree with its beak and then listening.
"As soon as it is sure of finding its prey, it begins to bore through the bark with its strong beak till it comes upon the spot where they are. No other beak would do this boring work so well. Then the woodpecker"s tongue becomes a wonderful help to him. The tongue is long, narrow, and pointed, and the bird is able to thrust it out suddenly a long way beyond the beak.
"When the beak has bored the hole, the tongue instantly darts forward and seizes the worms before they can escape. This is how the woodpecker feeds."SUMMARY
