554 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



and white in color. They are sometimes confused with the sap- 

 sucker. The sapsucker, however, can be identified by his yellow 

 belly, which the others lack. The hairy and downy woodpeckers 

 are both beneficial species, destroying large numbers of plant lice, 

 ants and borers. The woodpecker's bill is well adapted to digging 

 out the borers and the barbed tongue enables them to pull them 

 from the holes, once they are exposed. These little woodpeckers 

 also eat a large number of caterpillars, as well as insect eggs in 

 winter. 



THE FLICKER. 



The flicker, also known as the yellow-hammer or golden-winged 

 woodpecker, is a common bird about the farms, especially those 

 situated in or near timber. These birds are valuable to the fruit 

 man, not only because they are destructive to borers, but they also 



eat ants literally by thousands. 

 They occasionally do considerable 

 injury to telephone poles, the 

 buzzing of the wires seeming to 

 give the impression that borers 

 are at work within the pole. 

 These birds, in common with the 

 others of the woodpecker family, 

 supply no nesting material. 

 They are content to excavate a 

 deep cavity in some decaying 

 tree trunk and place their eggs 

 on the chips left in the bottom 

 of the hole. It is often desir- 

 able to attract them to localities 

 where no suitable nesting sites 

 are available. The wi^iter has 

 given much attention to attract- 

 ing such birds, and after several 

 unsuccessful experiments a plan 

 was hit upon which entirely meets their needs. From ordinary 

 rough lumber a box was made about six inches square and two feet 

 deep, very much resembling a box rabbit trap. The top and 

 bottom are closed and a suitable entrance hole made near the top. 

 About six or eight inches of ground cork, such as may be obtained 

 at any fruit store, is placed in the bottom of the box to supply the 

 place of a nest. The picture shows the result. Flickers have used 



The Flicker at nest box. 



