284 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



and seizes grasshoppers and beetles in the grass, its favorite method of 

 the chase is to dart out from some post of observation and capture pass- 

 ing insects on the wing, as do the Kingbird and Pewee. In considering 

 the economic value of a bird as a destroyer of insects, there must be 

 borne in mind the fact that not all insects are injurious to man's inter- 

 ests and some are of real value. The Red-head is known to kill certain 

 beneficial forms, such as tiger beetles and' various predaceous ground 

 species. It has also been accused of killing the young of other birds,, 

 although there appears to be little data on which to found an opinion 

 that this habit is widespread or universal. Its vegetable food is varied, 

 consisting mainly of fruit, berries and beech nuts. The -writer has often 

 seen it feeding upon acorns of various kinds, and there is a pretty com- 

 mon belief that at times it stores acorns for winter use in convenient 

 crevices of trees or posts. 



I YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER {Sphyrapicus varius, Linn). 



Top of head scarlet; back barred with black ond yellowish white; white spots on 

 wings; white line under eye; throat red (white in female) ; breast black, belly yellow- 

 ish white ; sides streaked with black. 



Ranffe. — Eastern North America ; breeds generally from the higher North Carolina 

 mountains northward. Winters from Virginia to Central America. 



Nest. — In cavities of trees. 



E(j(js. — Five to seven, glossy white. 



The Sapsucker is generally seen in North Carolina about the time 

 of the first cold days of autumn. It is decidedly retiring in its habits, 

 and one may live a week among the trees of the barn-lot without being 

 noticed. It haunts the trunks of trees, appearing to prefer those of 

 dense foliage. The male may be readily distinguished from the other 

 smaller woodpeckers by the bright red feathers of the throat. 



The Sapsucker's food consists in part of many varieties of such wild 

 berries as it is able to find in the autumn and winter. It eats insects 

 when these are accessible. Its chief diet, however, consists of the inner 

 layer of bark of a variety of trees and the sap which it is enabled to 

 collect by means of numerous small holes excavated through the bark 

 for this purpose. Among other trees, it is known to attack the apple, 

 sugar maple, mountain ash and hemlock. In the spring of 1891 I 

 watched with much care the actions of a Sapsucker, and the following 

 brief account of what occurred is taken from the writer's book, "Stories 

 of Bird Life:" 



"For several years a Sapsucker (possibly not the same bird always) 

 has each season visited a small balsam growing in a frequented lawn 

 near my home. In the autumn it begins its attack and a few small 

 holes are dug through the bark, but by far the larger amount of his 



