Js^ORTHERX DOWNY WOODPECKER 59 



stomachs of the hairy woodpecker, aud shows that the downy pecks wood 

 much less than the hairy. These larvae are eaten at all times of the year, 

 though the most are taken in the cooler mouths. * * * The economic value 

 of the destruction of these larvae is very great. 



Weevils amount to a little more than 3 percent, but appear to be a rather 

 favorite food, as they were found in 107 stomachs. * * * 



Ants are eaten by the downy to the extent of 21.36 percent of its diet, aud 

 are taken more regularly than any other element of the food. * * * 



Caterpillars appear to be a very acceptable food for the downy woodpecker, 

 as they constitute 16.50 percent of the yearly diet. * * * 



Fruit was eaten to the extent of 5.85 percent of the whole food. Most of it 

 is of useless wild varieties. * * * 



The charge sometimes made that the downy injures trees by eating the 

 inner bark is disproved. It eats cambium rarely and in small quantities. 



Beal gives a list of 20 seeds and fruits found in the downy's food. 



Summarizing his findings, he says: "The foregoing discussion of 

 the food of the downy woodpecker shows it to be one of our most 

 useful species. The only complaint against the bird is on the score 

 of disseminating the poisonous species of Rhus. However, it is for- 

 tunate that the bird can live on this food when it is difficult to procure 

 anything else. The insect food selected by the downy is almost all of 

 species economically harmful." 



Forbush (1927) lays stress on the usefulness of the downy to man; 

 he says that it "searches out the pine weevil which kills the topmost 

 shoot of the young white pine and so causes a crook in the trunk of 

 the tree, unfitting it for the lumber market." 



Mrs. Alice Hall Walter (1912) shoAvs how well the downy is 

 equipped to secure its food. She saj's that the feet, two toes in front 

 and two behind, "serve to clamp the bird to the tree." She continues : 



Additional support is furnished by the stiff, sharply pointed tail-feathers, 

 that act as a brace when the bird delivers heavy blows with its beak. Effective 

 as this tool is for the work of hammer, UTcdge, drill and pick-axe, it could not 

 obtain the deeply hidden grubs known as ''borers," from their tortuous, tunneled 

 grooves, without the aid of the long, slender, extensile tongue. In the case of 

 the Hairy and Downy, as well as some others of the family, this remarkable tool 

 is provided with barbs, converting it into a spear, which may be hurled one 

 inch, two inches or even more, beyond the tip of the beak. 



A. Dawes DuBois says in his notes: "I have seen a downy wood- 

 pecker industriously applying tlie percussion test to the dried stalks 

 of the previous summer's horse weeds, which grow to prodigious 

 size in the creek bottoms near Springfield, Illinois. He went up each 

 stalk, tapping it lightly, and frequently stopping to pierce the shell 

 and extract a worm from the pith. I found that the weed stems he 

 had visited were punctured and splintered in numerous places." 



The following note by Elliott R. Tibbets (1911) shows how agile 

 the downy is on the wing. He was watching some birds at a feeding 

 shelf. "I was told," he saj's, "to throw a cracked nut into the air and 



