104 



ers go after the borers. Spores are produced in enormous num- 

 bers right around those tunnels. It is inevitable that the wood- 

 peckers will get tlie spores on their bills and on their feet and on 

 other parts of their bodies. Those birds, Allien the}' go away, 

 will carry those spores Avith them and leave them Avhere they 

 alight the next lime. If they happen to fall in a wound of some 

 kind and the conditions are favorable, tiie infection is going to 

 occur. That is the kind of evidence. It is inferential. As for 

 actually knowing that infections have resulted in -that way, we 

 have no evidence. Of course, it is exceedingly dirHciilt, if not 

 impossible, to gel it. As to the niigrntion of the woodpeckers, 

 I have it on the antliorily of a coiiipcieiit omit li(th>gisl lh;it suiik^ 

 kinds of them do liavd h)ng distances. 



DK. FISHER : There are certain forms of Avoodpeckers Avliich 

 go south in Avinter, but those ;ire not the birds Avhicli are highly 

 specialized Avliich secure their food from tlie trees. They are 

 birds Avhich seek their food like the flicker, Avhich feeds largely 

 on nnt^s, and the redlieaded Avoodpecker, Avhich feeds quite ex- 

 tensively on grassho])p('rs .'siid other insects, as Avell as fruits; 

 but our Avoodpeckers, our native, resident woodpeckers, are 

 rarely nngrators. As to the injury to the trees, the nut gath- 

 erers, it seems to me, produce very many moi-e W(»unds than the 

 woo(l|»('('k('rs produce. They either jar the smaller trees Avitli 

 stones that break the bark and form places for tlie insertion of 

 the germs, or they use clind)ers which injure the bark, and enter 

 the wood very much further than the \\<)odpecker's bill does. 



jVIR. DETWILEK: 1 have the i-cport of a field agent who has 

 been investigating the relation of bir<ls to the carrying of dis- 

 (;ase. This investigation has been in progress only about a 

 month, and the data is of an elementary character. However, 

 there are tAVo paragrai)hs wliich have a bearing on this subject. 

 First, the field agent says : 



"I can truthfully states that (n'ery l)lighted 1r(^e I have seen 

 since I liaA^e begun this study, has liad its bark ]»nnctnred by 

 Avoodpeckers, in most cases with scores of holes." 



Theolhei' jtertinent olisrr\ at inn is: 



