62 THE FLICKER. 



ants, 7 May beetles, and a large green larva in a single stom- 

 ach, lyarge grubs, crickets and red ants are commonly found. 

 I think there should be no question regarding the inestimable 

 services rendered in keeping within reasonable limits the nu- 

 merous varieties of ants. In Indiana it not only devours large 

 quantities of mature insects, but their eggs, larvae and chrj^- 

 salides (Gaines). Wilson says it also feeds upon woodlice. 

 Grasshoppers when in season form no inconsiderable portion 

 of its food. In early spring and early fall its manner of feed- 

 ing on the ground is to collect in small, loose flocks, travelling 

 back and forth along the edges of a wood, around a hillside or 

 in a meadow; silently clearing the group oi its insect pests, 

 only flying up when disturbed or satisfied ; in this manner 

 often mixing in with the Meadowlarks, and in the West 

 extending well out on the prairies at a considerable distance 

 from timber or trees of an}^ kind. 



As a correspondent suggests, birds, like other bipeds, only 

 " scratch for a living" when necessit}^ makes it compulsory. 

 Whether its system demands a change of diet or to put its 

 young in the waj^ of feeding themselves or from sheer laziness, 

 it becomes largely frugivorous from late July to November or 

 until its departure, feeding upon the fruit, as it ripens, of the 

 wild strawberry, raspberry, serviceberry , mulberry, red cherry, 

 dewberry, blackberry, huckleberry, elderberrj'-, pokeberry, 

 black cherry, grape, dogwood, black alder, wild plum, haw- 

 berr}', gum and hackberry; a perfect profu.sion and succession 

 of wild fruit ; often to the almost entire exclusion of inset life, 

 growing fat upon the pulp diet. It is noted by Mr. Robert 

 Windsor Smith tliat when the bird is gorged with berries but 

 little gravel is found in its stomach ; this also applies to 

 many others of our so-called insectivorous birds. I have 

 known it to eat so largely and continuously of certain small 

 fruits that the stain of the highly colored juices would pene- 

 trate and saturate the intestines, abdomen, and even dye the 

 bases of the feathers a rich red or purple ; particularly so when 

 pokeberries are indulged in.. It is extremely fond of the fruit 

 of this plant, and in this connection I wish to state that Dr. 

 W. E. Rotzell has given some 'attention to the effects of poke- 

 berries upon birds ^Hahnneniannian Monthly, '91, p. 790). 

 An extract of this fruit has been prescribed for obesity under 



