THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS. 25 



in 1 stomach it was thought to be apple. Flower buds were found 

 in 1 stomach. Poison oak (Rlius diversiloba) was noted in 9 stom- 

 achs, mast in 5, cambium in 2, and rubbish, etc., in 5. Altogether 

 they amounted to 12.10 per cent, and made up the quota of vegetable 

 food. None of them was eaten to a sufficient extent to be of any 

 economic interest. 



The following fruits were found in the stomachs: 



Blackberry or raspberry (Rubus sp.). Poison oak (Rhus diversiloba). 



Elderberry (Sambucus glauca). 



Summary. In its animal food the Nuttall woodpecker is beyond 

 criticism. Practically all of the insects eaten are either pests or of 

 no positive benefit. While some fruit is eaten, it consists largely, 

 and perhaps entirely, of wild varieties. Probably the worst that 

 can be said of the bird is that it helps in the distribution of poison- 

 oak seeds. 1 



THREE-TOED WOODPECKERS. 



(Picoides arcticus and P. americanus.) 



The three-toed woodpeckers are residents of the Boreal zones of 

 North America, in Alaska, Canada, the northeastern United States, 

 and in the mountains of the Western States, south to southern New 

 Mexico and to central California. The two species, including the 

 two subspecies of americanus, are so similar in habits that they may 

 be treated together. All are residents of coniferous forests, from 

 which they sometimes wander a short distance in winter. The 

 trunks of scaly -barked conifers, such as spruces, hemlocks, tama- 

 racks, and lodgepole pines, are their favorite hunting grounds, and 

 here they excavate burrows in which they rear their young and find 

 shelter at night. 



In their choice of food these two species are as closely allied as in 

 other respects. The great bulk consists of the larvae of wood-boring 

 beetles or moths. These are eaten with great regularity throughout 

 the year, but somewhat more in the colder months than in summer. 

 In the dead of winter, when all insect life is apparently quiescent, 

 these birds still obtain their daily food. Flies and bees no longer 

 sport in the sunshine; butterflies and flowers are replaced by sleet 

 and snow ; the beetles are either dead or snugly ensconced in crevices 

 in the bark, awaiting the return of warmth, while the larvae repose in 

 their burrows of solid wood, apparently safe from all disturbance. 

 But undaunted by cold and undeterred by hard work, our intrepid 

 little friends tear open the secure retreats in the bark, or chisel into 

 the solid wood, and feast upon the luckless insects. 



Unfortunately only 28 stomachs of Picoides arcticus and 23 of P. 

 americanus were available for examination. There are few birds 



i Another species of Dryobates (D. arizonsc}, of which no stomachs have been received, inhabits the 

 mountains from northeastern Arizona and northwestern New Mexico south into Mexico. 



