278 Missouri Agricultural Ueport. 



What a wonderful record for good the IMeadow Lark has to its 

 T^redit. Does it occasionally pull up some sprouting grain? Such state- 

 ments have at times been in circulation. However, this may be, careful 

 observers all appear to unite in voting it a good and useful bird, and in 

 nearly all States in the Union it is guarded by statutes the year through. 

 The following states only have not as yet enacted laws for its pri-tec- 

 tion, viz. : Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama. Louisiana, Ten- 

 nessee, Missouri and Idaho. 



THE WOODPECKERS. 



In North Carolina the following species and climatic varieties of 

 woodpeckers are today recognized by naturalists: 



Hairy Woodpecker {Dryohates villosur, Linn). 



Southern Hairy Woodpecker (D. v. auduhonii, Swains). 



Downy Woodpecker {Dryohates puhescens, Linn). 



Red-cockaded Woodpecker {Dryohates horealis, Vieill). 



Yellow-bellied Sapsucker {Sphyrapicus variiis, Linn). 



Pileated Woodpecker, "Logcock" {CeopJiloeus pileatus, Linn). 



Red-headed Woodpecker {Melanerpes eruthrocephalus, Linn). 



Red-bellied Woodpecker {Melanerpes Carolina, Linn). 



Flicker: ''Yellow Hammer:" {Colaptes auratus, Linn). 



Woodpeckers are, as a rule, solitary birds, and are seldom seen as- 

 sociated in greater numbers than the individuals of one family. They 

 are wonderfully adapted for performing their part in the economy of 

 nature, which is to guard the trunks and limbs of trees from the undue 

 increase of insects. All our woodpeckers are provided with four toes 

 on each foot, two of which point forward and the other two backward. 

 This arrangement gives them great power in clinging to vertical surfaces 

 of trees. They are also aided by the stiff tail feathers, which serve as a 

 sustantial brace beneath. The stout chisel-like beak enables them to 

 rapidly dig larvae from the bark and wood and also provides them a 

 means of readily excavating their nesting cavities. Woodpeckers have 

 no power of song, their method of attracting the attention of others of 

 their kind being a few calls and a loud tattoo beaten by the bill on some 

 resounding limb, loose shingle, or tin coping of a house. All lay pure 

 white eggs and deposit them on a thin layer of fine chips in the bottom 

 •ot their nesting holes. 



Many farmers look with the eye of suspicion upon the movements 

 of woodpeckers when seen frequenting fruit and shade trees and pecking 

 holes in them. Close observation reveals the fact, however, that these 

 birds rarely injure a healthy tree, and with the exception of one species 



