woodpeckers

Theophrastus believed and experienced that there was an herb at whose single touch an iron wedge, though never so far driven into a huge log of the hardest wood that is, would presently come out; and it is this same herb your hickways, alias woodpeckers, use, when with some mighty axe anyone stops up the hole of their nests, which they industriously dig and make in the trunk of some sturdy tree.

Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002

Theophrastus believed and experienced that there was an herb at whose single touch an iron wedge, though never so far driven into a huge log of the hardest wood that is, would presently come out; and it is this same herb your hickways, alias woodpeckers, use, when with some mighty axe anyone stops up the hole of their nests, which they industriously dig and make in the trunk of some sturdy tree.

Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002

The woodpeckers are the great natural protection of the forests by waging constant warfare on the wood-boring insects and ants beneath the bark where no other birds can reach them.

Checking the Waste A Study in Conservation Mary Huston Gregory

Barbets may be described as woodpeckers that are trying to become toucans.

Birds of the Indian Hills Douglas Dewar 1916

Our most pleasing drummer upon dry limbs among the woodpeckers is the yellow-bellied.

The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: Pepacton John Burroughs 1879

Theophrastus believed and experienced that there was an herb at whose single touch an iron wedge, though never so far driven into a huge log of the hardest wood that is, would presently come out; and it is this same herb your hickways, alias woodpeckers, use, when with some mighty axe anyone stops up the hole of their nests, which they industriously dig and make in the trunk of some sturdy tree.

Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 4 Fran��ois Rabelais 1518

Apart from those species particularly associated with the sea and wetlands, there is also a considerable variety of forest birds such as woodpeckers, barbets, shrikes, drongos, mynahs, minivets, babblers and many others.

Sundarbans, Bangladesh 2009

He said there were no some kind of woodpeckers in this region; and I said I knew there were, because I'd go to my back door and there they would be drumming away.

Oral History Interview with Ernest Seeman, February 13, 1976. Interview B-0012. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) 1976

He meant with all his heart to pull in some of the plumage of those confounded "woodpeckers," as he called them, before the day was over.

Waring's Peril Charles King 1888

The Romans call the municipal watchmen "woodpeckers," because they wear little pointed cocked hats with a bunch of feathers.

The Heart of Rome 1881