webs among the leaves; or the countless beetles
whose grubs bore through and through the trunk their sinuous, sawdusty
tunnels; or the ichneumon fly, which with an instrument--surgical needle,
file, augur, and scroll saw all in one--deposits, deep below the bark, its
eggs in safety? If forced to compete with terrestrial species, the tree
spiders and scorpions would quickly become exterminated; while especially
adapted arboreal ants would instantly disappear.

We cannot entirely exclude even fishes from our list; as the absence of
mangroves would incidentally affect the climbing perch and catfishes! The
newts and common toads would be in no wise dismayed by the passing of the
trees, but not so certain tadpoles. Those of our ditches, it is true,
would live and flourish, but there are, in the world, many curious kinds
which hatch and grow up into frogs in curled-up leaves or in damp places
in the forks of branches, and which would find themselves homeless without
trees. Think, too, of the poor green and brown tree frogs with their
sucker feet, compelled always to hop along the ground!

Lizards, from tiny swifts to sixty-inch iguanas, would sorely miss the
trees, while the lithe green tree snakes and the tree boas would have to
change all their life habits in order to be able to exist. But as for the
cold, uncanny turtles and alligators,--what are trees to them!

In the evolution of the birds and other animals, the cry of "excelsior"
has been followed literally as well as theoretically and, with a few
exceptions, the highest in each class have not only risen above their
fellows in intelligence and structure, but have left the earth and climbed
or flown to the tree-tops, making these their chief place of abode.

Many of the birds which find their food at sea, or in the waters of stream
and lake, repair to the trees for the purpose of building their nests
among the branches. Such birds are the pelicans, herons, ibises, and
ospreys; while the wood ducks lay their eggs high above the ground in the
hollows of trees. Parrots, kingfishers, swifts, and hummingbirds are
almost helpless on the ground, their feet being adapted for climbing about
the branches, perching on twigs, or clinging to the hollows of trees.
Taken as a whole, birds would suffer more than any other class of
creatures in a deforested world. The woodpeckers would be without home,
food, and resting-place; except, possibly, the flicker, or high-hole, who
is either