88 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



the request was turned over to Mrs. Angeline D. McKee, who 

 has been employed not only by the Department of Agriculture 

 but by other State departments from time to time, with the 

 request that she secure the information and put it in shape 

 for the use of the Council. On March 5 Dr. Barrows acknowl- 

 edged the receipt of the report on the scientific work in prog- 

 ress in the various departments of the State government of 

 Massachusetts, and expressed his great appreciation of the 

 report submitted by Mrs. McKee. 



Special Investigations. 



During the year the assistance of the official observers con- 

 nected with the Division of Ornithology has been enlisted in 

 investigating some questions relating to bird life. The result 

 of only one of these investigations can be reported here. 



SapsucJcer Work and Similar Worh by Other Woodpeckers, 

 It might seem that there could be little in dispute at this 

 late date in respect to habits of common birds, but such is not 

 the case. There is a difference of opinion among ornithologists 

 regarding the habits of common woodpeckers. Many assert 

 that Sapsuckers of the genus Sphyrapiciis are the only species 

 that make transverse rings of small rounded punctures, such 

 as are numerous on the trunks and limbs of apple and other 

 trees. Others declare that the Downy Woodpecker is responsible 

 for such borings, while still others believe that these pits are 

 attributable to several species. 



The writer is responsible for the following statement regard- 

 ing the Downy Woodpecker, an assertion which has been 

 questioned more than once: — 



In manjr cases it perforates the bark of apple trees with small roundish 

 holes less than an inch apart, disposed in parallel, horizontal rings. ^ 



Last year when asked to substantiate this assertion, the 

 writer had to confess that while he had seen the Downy Wood- 

 pecker working on trees having fresh perforations, he had not 

 seen the bird actually make a row of such holes. Recently in 

 a search through old notes the only reference to the subject 



' Useful Birds and their Protection, 1907, p. 251. 



