make the rounds of his forest, and the result is 

 an outbreak of insects, with wide depredations. 

 So important are these birds that the shooting 

 of a single one may allow insects to multiply 

 and waste acres of forest. 



During the periods in which the insects are 

 held in check the woodpecker ranges through 

 the forest, inspecting tree after tree. Many 

 times, during their tireless rounds of search and 

 inspection, I have followed them for hours. On 

 one occasion in the mountains of Colorado I 

 followed a Batchelder woodpecker through a 

 spruce forest all day long. Both of us had a 

 busy day. He inspected eight hundred and 

 twenty-seven trees, most of which were spruce 

 or lodge-pole pine. Although he moved quickly, 

 he was intensely concentrated, was systematic, 

 and apparently did the inspection carefully. 

 The forest was a healthy one and harbored only 

 straggling insects. Now and then he picked up 

 an isolated insect from a limb or took an egg- 

 cluster from a break in the bark on a trunk. 

 Only two pecking operations were required. On 

 another occasion I watched a hairy woodpecker 



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