248 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



the woodpeckers, but feeds hiryvly on inserts, which it tinds on the 

 outer bark of the trees ov catches on the winy. It has been accused 

 of doing serious injury to i^a-owinji trees, liy ,<;irdling them to get at 

 the inner bark, on which it is sairl to feed. Dr. King, of River Falls, 

 in his "Economic Relations of our Birds," exonerates it from this 

 charge, and says that in tlie stomaclis of tliiity specimens which he 

 examined, he found in only six ;i small jimount of material reseml)ling 

 the inner bark of ti'ees, and further adds : "No instance in which the 

 bark of trees has been stripped! ofV has come under my oVjservation, 

 nor do I know of a single case in wliicli tlieir puncturings of the 

 bark have been fatal; or even appreciahlv injurious to the tree.'" In 

 Southern Ontario a few remain and raise their youiii;-. l)ut the 

 majority go farthei- north. 



This species occurs in Manitoba, and Dr. Coues says uf it : ''Com- 

 mon summer resident of wooded sections, plentiful at Pembina, where 

 it was breeding in June ; again seen on tlie Moose River, not 

 observed farthei- north. " 



