HAIEY WOODPECKER, 13 



I have found no parasite of this larva [Hepialus argenteomaculatus], but I have seen 

 that the woodpeckers are its deadly foes. In April, 1886, I had a favorable oppor- 

 tunity to search for the borer and was astonished at the scores removed by these birds. 

 They often drill through a deep layer of wood; often two holes are made one above 

 the other, the purpose being obvious. The morsel is evidently located, or its burrow 

 rather, by sounding, as I noticed many instances in which a row of punctures sur- 

 rounded the base of the alder. The destroyers are sometimes mistaken, for I found 

 their drillings, evidently made in search of this larva, in sound wood in which there 

 were no borers, but these were few compared with the successful trials. 



Is it the activity of these birds that prevents the abundance in the forests of certain 

 borers, e. g. Aegeria acerni, whilst the same insect is often destructively abundant in 

 the ornamental maples of cities and villages? 1 



HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



(Dryobates villosus subspp.) 



The hairy woodpecker (frontispiece) , in one or another of its various 

 forms, inhabits the whole of temperate North America, but is rare 

 over some extensive areas. It is a rather restless, noisy bird, as com- 

 pared with its smaller relative, the downy, and makes itself conspicu- 

 ous by loud calls and rapid flights from tree to tree. It is eminently 

 arboreal in its habits and gets most of its food from trees. While 

 sometimes found in the midst of a dense forest, it prefers the outer 

 edge of the woodland or groves or orchards. In the latter it is quite 

 at home, especially if the trees be old and neglected, for then they 

 usually offer decayed knots and limbs where wood borers establish 

 their colonies. The bird is not migratory, unless within very narrow 

 limits, and where it occurs at all can usually be found the year round. 

 It nests in a cavity which it excavates in a partly decayed trunk or 

 branch. While often seen in the orchard, the hairy does not go there 

 for fruit. More than three-fourths of its food consists of animal 

 matter, and less than a fourth of the remainder is fruit, mostly of 

 wild species. 



In the investigation of the food of the hairy woodpecker detailed 

 below, 382 stomachs were examined. They were obtained from 33 

 States and Territories, the District of Columbia, and Canada, and 

 were taken in every month of the year. They undoubtedly embrace 

 all the recognized subspecies, but as some of them were collected before 

 all the forms had been denned, they can not now be distinguished. 

 However, as the food of the various subspecies does not differ mate- 

 rially, the species has been treated as a whole. In the first analysis 

 the food divides into 77.67 per cent of animal matter and 22.33 of 

 vegetable. The animal food consists of insects, with a few spiders 

 and millepeds; the vegetable part is made up of fruit, seeds, and a 

 number of miscellaneous substances. This ratio of animal to vege- 

 table does not vary greatly during the year, the greatest difference 



i Kellicotl, D. S., Insect Life, I, 251, Feb., 18S9. 



