BIRDS USEFUL TO FARM AND ORCHARD 



639 



Ilaliits and Economic Status 



The skillful evolutions ot a company 

 of nighthawks as the birds gracefully 

 cleave the air in intersecting circles is a 

 sight to be remembered. So expert are 

 they on the wing that no insect is safe 

 from them, even the swift dragonfly be- 

 ing captured with ease. Unfortunately 

 their erratic flight tempts men to use 

 them for targets, and this inexcusable 

 practice is seriously diminishing their 

 numbers, which is deplorable, since no 

 birds are more useful. This species makes 

 no nest, but lays its two spotted eggs on 

 the bare ground, sometimes on the gravel 

 roof of the city house. The nighthawk 

 is a voracious feeder and is almost ex- 

 clusively insectivorous. Some stomachs 

 contained from 30 to 50 different kinds 

 of insects, and more than 600 kinds have 

 been identified from the stomachs thus 

 far examined. From 500 to 1,000 ants 

 are often found in a stomach. Several 

 species of mosquitoes, including Ano- 

 pheles, the transmitter of malaria, are 

 eaten. Other well known pests destroyed 

 by the nighthawk are the Colorado po- 

 tato beetle, cucumber beetles, chestnut, 

 rice, clover-leaf and cotton-boll weevils, 

 billbugs, bark beetles, squash bugs, and 

 nioths of the cotton worm. 



Flicker 



Colaptes auratus 

 Length, 13 inches. The yellow under 

 surface of the wing, yellow tail shafts, 

 and white rump are characteristic. 



Ran^e 



Breeds in the Eastern United States 

 west to the plains and in the forested 

 parts of Canada and Alaska; winters in 

 most of the Eastern United States. 



Habits and Economic Status 



The flicker inhabits the open country 

 rather than the forest and delights in 

 park-like regions where trees are numer- 

 ous and scattered. It nests in any large 

 cavity in a tree and readily appropriates 

 an artificial box. It is possible, there- 

 fore, to insure the presence of this useful 

 bird about the farm and to increase its 

 numbers. It is the most terrestrial of 

 our woodpeckers and procures much of 



its food from the ground. The largest 

 item of animal food is ants, of which the 

 flicker eats more than any other common 

 birds. Ants were found in 524 of the 684 

 stomachs examined and 98 stomachs con- 

 tained no other food. One stomach con- 

 tained over 5,000 and two others held 

 over 3,000 each. While bugs are not 

 largely eaten by the flicker, one stomach 

 contained 17 chinch bugs. Wild fruits 

 are next to ants in importance in the 

 flicker's dietary. Of these sour gum and 

 wild black cherry stand at the head. The 

 food habits of this bird are such as to 

 recommend it to complete protection. 



Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker 



Sphyrapicus varius 



Length, about eight and one-half 

 inches. Only woodpecker having top of 

 head from base of bill red, combined with 

 a black patch on breast. 



Range 



Breeds in northern half ot the United 

 States and southern half of Canada; win- 

 ters in most of the states and south to 

 Costa Rica. 



Habits and Economic Status 



The yellow-bellied sapsucker is rather 

 silent and suspicious and generally man- 

 ages to have a tree between himself and 

 the observer. Hence the bird is much 

 better known by its works than its ap- 

 pearance. The regular girdles of holes 

 made by this bird are common on a great 

 variety of trees; in all about 250 kinds 

 are known to be attacked. Occasionally 

 young trees are killed outright, but more 

 loss is caused by stains and other blem- 

 ishes in the wood which result from sap- 

 sucker punctures. These blemishes, which 

 are known as bird pecks, are especially 

 numerous in hickory, oak. cypress and 

 yellow poplar. Defects due to sapsucker 

 work cause an annual loss to the lumber 

 industry estimated at $1,250,000. The 

 food of the yellow-bellied sapsucker is 

 about half animal and half vegetable. Its 

 fondness for ants counts slightly in its 

 favor. It eats also wasps, beetles (in- 

 cluding, however, very few wood-boring 

 species), bugs, and spiders. The two 

 principal components of the vegetable 



