108 



OENITIIOLOGIST 



[Vol. 13-No. 7 



Kidgw. Striped-ltaok Three-toed Woodpecker. 

 Xot Ht all 00111111011, liiit three pair seen In a pin- 

 on grove south ol liei<>. I'rohably breeds there, 

 a resident all the year round. 



82. b'lilii/rapicua oarins uac/iidis (iJaird). l!ed- 

 naped Woodpecker. (loinmon, and breeds in 

 low, broken stumps along the river bottom. 

 It seems to prefer a stub of from four to six 

 feet in height to tall trees, no matter how 

 many iuducements it may have to build in 

 such. They will not leave their eggs until 

 obliged to, no amount of rapping or pounding 

 on the outside of their domiciles will move 

 them, and you generally have to cut down to 

 tliem, and Mini I have had to remove them by 

 hand. 



83. Midauerpes torquatun (Wils.), Bon.-ip. 

 Lewis' Woodpecker. Very eominon, breeds in 

 the pines up to '.1,000 feet. Their tliglit much 

 resembles that of the Grackles, and might 

 easily be taken for them at a distance. I have 

 noticed thcin sitting on the limb ot a pine, 

 a favorite position with them, now and 

 tlien tlying away, only to return by a short 

 circle to the same place, seemingly one of 

 some of the Flycatchers, but I have no doubt 

 but that it does take insects on the wing, but 

 have never been able to prove it beyond a 

 doubt. However, I think it does so. 



(To be continued.) 



Wintering of Pectoral Sandpiper on 

 Monomoy Island, Mass. 



IIV JOHN C. CAIIOdN. 



On April 'J, a gentleman stopping witli me on 

 the Island, found two Pectoral Sandpipers near 

 a salt pond on the marsh, and ,shot one, a <?. 

 Several days later, i secured the other in the 

 same locality, which also proved to be a ^. 



Wlien 1 left the Island lutein November last, 

 there were several remaining about the marsh 

 near the pond, and from the fact that the above 

 birds were seen by parties in March, leads me 

 to think that they remained in that locality all 

 winter. The portion of the marsh that they 

 were found on is sheltered by numerous sand 

 hills. The birds taken were poor, their stom- 

 achs were well tilled, and contained with other 

 matters several thin, compressed whitish 

 worms. I have never befoi'e seen this bird in 

 the spring on our Cape Cod coast, and our old- 

 est and most experienced gunner in this vicin- 

 ity says that he has never seen or known of one 

 being taken in the spring. 



Birds and Their Relation to Agri- 

 culture. 



IIV C. S. lilMMI.EV, HAI.KKMI, N. C. 



Ill tlie February nuiiiberof the (). ifc O., there 

 was an article by Mr. Singley under the above 

 heading, which interested me very much, and 

 has impelled me to ofter a few notes on the 

 same suliject. 



Birds may be divided into four ditl'crent 

 classes as to their rehitioti to agriculture: 



1. Injurious birds. 



2. IJiids of mixed character. 



3. LJenelicial JJirds. 



4. Neutral birds. All birds not coming under 

 the three previous heads being in the last class. 



Of course, it is often hard to know how to 

 place any particular bird under the heads, the 

 second class being by far the largest, es- 

 pecially if we take the whole country into con- 

 sideration, as a, bird may be iiijui ious in one 

 section and beneticial in another, and vice 

 versa. 



To commence with, the lujiirious Birds, the 

 Frinyiliiila' and Icleria fm-uish our most con- 

 spicuous examples, the English Sparrow and 

 Goldfinch in the former, and the Bobolink and 

 Blackbirds in the latter family heading the list. 

 The Jinglish Sparrow, although chiefly con- 

 fined to the city, has already begun to do some 

 damage in this neighborhood to grain, and to 

 judge from the report of the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, we cannot expect him not to 

 do more, as in the last year he has been spread- 

 ing rapidly into the country. 



The Goldlinch does some damage in this 

 neighborhood to turnip seed, sometimes causing 

 loss to those who grow it, and so far as I can 

 find never does any good. The three Black- 

 birds (Cowbird, Itedwing and Crow Blackbird), 

 all appear in JNIarcli on the fields of spring oats, 

 and being sufticieiitly numerous to make a good 

 showing, they employ their energies in prevent- 

 ing said oats being too thick. The Bobolink 

 does not do any appreciable damage here, but 

 makes the rice growers down east feel badly 

 when he arrives in the fall. 



The Mourning Dove does some damage to 

 turnip seed and corn here, but gets in his finest 

 work in the trucking district around New 

 Berne in the east of the State. A great many 

 early peas are grown there for th<! Northern 

 market, but the Dove does his best to prevent 

 tlie market from being glutted. The truckers, 

 however, don't appreciate his efforts. 



