PILEATED WOODPECKER 213 



Pileated is still quite common and not wild. In 

 describing it lie notes that its flight is slow and 

 direct rather than undulating, as is that of most 

 Woodpeckers ; and says that its call note is a so- 

 norous coiv-coiv-cow. 



Mr. Manley Hardy finds the Woodpeckers in 

 the Maine forests, where, if not disturbed, they 

 become accustomed to man. He so won the con- 

 fidence of one pair that they would let him put 

 his hand on their tree when they were only ten 

 feet above. 



Major Bendire gives the Pileated's food as ants 

 and different species of boring beetles and larvae 

 which infest timbered tracts ; and, in addition, 

 wild berries and nuts. He says the bird does 

 far more good than harm, and only attacks decay- 

 ing and fallen timber." 



This is the testimony in regard to one species 

 of W^oodpecker ; but Professor Beal assures us, 

 after the examination of large numbers of stom- 

 achs, that while farmers look on the famil}^ with 

 suspicion because they see them on the bark of 

 fruit-trees, it is rare that any but the Sapsucker 

 leaves an important mark on a healthy tree ; but 

 on the contrary, when a tree is infested with wood- 

 boring larvae the birds dislodge and devour them. 

 Wood-boring beetles, tree-burrowing caterpillars 

 and timber ants begin their excavations in a small 

 spot of decay and eat in until they honeycomb 

 the trees. They are inaccessible to other birds, 



