Besides all this, they have curious long fleshy tongues, with horny barbed tips, which they can thrust far out of their mouths, to spear their insect food from holes and crannies." "Can any of them sing ?" asked Nat.
"They belong to an entirely songless group, but have several ways of calling and signalling to each other.

One of these is to beat rapidly on a tree with the beak, which makes a rolling noise, each different species doing his drumming in his own way.

Besides this, they all have jolly laughing notes, in spite of the fact that most of them are rather shy birds.

Hence they are often called the Laughing Family!" "Are there many kinds of Woodpeckers in North America ?" "More than twenty, but you are likely to notice only a few of them.

I am sure, however, that you will be good friends with, four kinds before snowfall--the Downy Woodpecker that you saw this morning; the beautiful golden-winged Flicker; the gay Red-headed Woodpecker, so glossy blue-black and white; and the mischievous spotted Sapsucker who visits us in autumn.