514 Recent Literature. [.Oct. 



exceeds the vegetable part of the diet. The Pileated Woodpecker, the 

 Flickers and the Sapsuckers, with the possible exception of S. thyroideus, 

 are more or less intermediate in this respect. 



Ants constitute the largest item of animal food, taking all the species 

 collectively, and are actually the largest item in eight species. The 

 smallest numbers are consumed by the Three-toed Woodpeckers and the 

 members of the Melanerpes group. Beetles rank next in importance, 

 and these two items combined constitute nearly one-half of the total food. 



The vegetable food consists almost wholly of fruit, cambium and mast. 

 Cambium is eaten chiefly by the Sapsuckers, while beech nuts are an 

 important article of diet with the Red-head, and acorns form more than 

 half the food of the California Woodpecker. 



Prof. Beal concludes that the Sapsuckers are the only injurous species 

 of the family in the United States, their damage to timber due to their 

 fondness for cambium and sap being extensive and serious. The two 

 species of Three-toed Woodpeckers are of particular value in our northern 

 forests for their destruction of wood-boring coleopterous larvae. The 

 Downy Woodpecker is also one of the most useful species, its only fault, 

 shared by several other Woodpeckers, being the dissemination of the seeds 

 of poison ivy and poison sumach. 



Each of the two stomachs of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker examined 

 contained many destructive wood-boring larvae. As the author says: 

 " These powerful birds are able to reach wood-boring grubs in places where 

 smaller species fail, and their large bodies require a great quantity of such 

 food"; and further: " When we see how much good this woodpecker is 

 capable of doing as a guardian of the forest, it seems deplorable that it 

 should be allowed to be exterminated. Wise legislation, backed by intelli- 

 gent public opinion, may retard, if not absolutely prevent, the present 

 destruction and allow the bird to regain something of its former abundance. 

 There is plenty of room for this splendid species and much need of its 

 services in the great southern forests." 



Colored plates by Fuertes, illustrating seven species, add to the useful- 

 ness of this valuable report. — W. DeW. M. 



Publications Received. — Bradbourne, Lord, and C. Chubb. The 

 Nomenclature of the Rheas of South America. (Ann. and Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. (8) VIII, 1911, pp. 273-275.) 



Burroughs, John. Bird Stories from Burroughs. 12mo, pp. viii -f- 

 174, pll. 8 (4 colored). Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York. 

 Sept., 1911. 60 cents, net. 



Curl, Holton C. Notes on the Digestive System of Hydrocorax. (Phil- 

 ippine Journ. Sci., VI, 1911, pp. 31-37, pll. i, ii.) 



Grinnell, J. (1) Early Summer Birds in Yosemite Valley. (Sierra 

 Club Bull., VIII, 1911, pp. 118-124.) (2) Description of a New Spotted 

 Towhee from the Great Basin. (University of California Publ., Zoology, 

 VII, pp. 309-311, Aug. 24, 1911.) 



