194 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Food. — The western pileated woodpecker lives on much the same 

 kind of food as its eastern relative, but naturally on different species 

 of insects and berries. Dr. Harold C. Bryant (1916) examined the 

 stomach of one, taken in Lake County, Calif., on November 5, 1915, 

 and says: "The stomach contained more than fifty carpenter ants 

 {Camponotus herculaneus subsp.) and 131 seeds of poison oak {Rhus 

 diversiloba). As the seeds of poison oak are hard and without a 

 noticeable covering of softer material it is difficult to understand 

 what there is about them that is attractive to birds. Certain it is 

 that the seeds are incapable of complete digestion by woodpeckers." 

 And he adds : "The stomachs of two pileated woodpeckers taken in or 

 near Yosemite National Park * * * were filled with carpenter 

 ants {Camponotus herculaneus modoc Wheeler), many of them 

 winged. Each stomach contained more than a hundred of these ants. 

 In addition one stomach contained a whole fruit of manzanita {Arc- 

 tostaphylos nevadetisis Gray) and the other, four large beetle larvae 

 (Ceramhycidae) , unidentifiable as to genus or species, which had 

 evidently been dug out of some dead tree, as the stomach contained 

 slivers of dead wood." 



J. A. Munro (1930) writes: "On December 2, 1926, a pileated wood- 

 pecker was seen scrambling among the thick entwined branches of 

 Virginia creeper that partly covered the walls of a house situated on 

 the shore of Okanagan Lake. Here it remained for twenty minutes, 

 busily picking off the fruit. Subsequently, during the month of De- 

 cember, it often was observed eating these berries at the same place and 

 likewise at a vine-covered house half a mile distant. Sometimes it ap- 

 peared at both houses on the same day, but more often only one house 

 was visited." 



Charles W. Michael (1928) gives the following interesting account: 



Beside the road, with branches overhanging it, stands a group of mountain 

 dogwoods (Cornus mittalU). These trees bore this year a heavy crop of fruit. 

 At the end of each flower stalk was a bunched cluster of ripe berries. The 

 Pileated Woodpecker was here today [September 19] to collect his toll of fruit. 

 The fruit being at the ends of slender branches we thought the heavy-bodied 

 bird would be out of luck. How could the big fellow reach the fruit? He was 

 apparently not just sure himself. At first he tried walking out the heavier 

 branches ; but always as he approached the tip-ends they bent under his weight 

 and threw the berries beyond reach. By working out on a cedar branch that 

 intermingled with the dogwood branches he did manage to get a taste of fruit, 

 just enough to tease his appetite. He was not to be cheated, however ; for his 

 next move was to flutter clumsily up to a branch containing berries, clutch the 

 branch firmly with his strong feet, and then drop to swing like a great pendulum. 

 He now had the system. Swinging head down he would pick the berries one by 

 one, loosen his hold, swing into flight and then repeat the performance on another 

 branch. 



