BIKDS OF INDIANA. 



831 



ginia creeper, and poison ivy. Prof. Beal informs us that from one- 

 third to three-fourths of its food consists of insects which are chiefly 



noxious. 



Hairy Woodpecker. 



(Beal. Bulletin No. 7, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, United States Department 



of Agriculture, p. 14.) 



The examinations made by the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture show that 82 of these Woodpeckers ate 68 per cent, of animal 

 matter, 31 per cent, vegetable, and 1 per cent, mineral. Of the animal 

 food, 17 per cent, was ants; 24, beetles, adult and larvae; 21, cater- 

 pillars; 2, bugs and plant lice; 4, spiders and myriapods (Bull. No. 7, 

 Div. 0. and M., U. S. Dept. Agr., p. 11). 



It mates early, and usually may be found breeding in April, in the 

 dead tops or larger limbs of forest trees. I have noticed it seems to pre- 

 fer hard maple. One brood is raised in a season. Both birds assist in 

 incubation, which lasts about two weeks. The young are fed by 



