PILEATED WOODPECKER. 33 



head of the woodpeckers in ant eating, but the material is too scanty 

 to warrant final conclusions. 



Vegetable food . Fruit pulp in 1 stomach and rubbish in another, 

 each amounted to less than 1 per cent of the year's food. Cambium 

 occurred in 5 stomachs, and formed the bulk of the vegetable food, 

 12.55 per cent of the whole. 



Summary. These results would indicate a very limited diet for this 

 bird, but it is altogether probable that a greater number of stomachs 

 would materially modify these figures. They show, however, that 

 the bird eats ants and cambium, if they are not conclusive as to what 

 it does not eat. 



PILEATED WOODPECKER. 



(Phloeotomus pileatus and subspp.) 



The pileated woodpecker, logcock, woodcock, or cock of the woods, 

 as it is variously called, is the largest member of the family now living 

 in the United States, except the ivory-billed woodpecker, which is 

 very rare. The logcock is essentially a forest bird, and is rarely found 

 except in rather extensive tracts of timber. It is usually shy and 

 retiring, difficult to approach, and better known by its work than by 

 sight. Its large size, loud voice, and habit of hammering upon dead 

 limbs combine to make it a conspicuous inhabitant of the forest. Its 

 strength is wonderful, and it is hard to believe that a bird can so com- 

 pletely destroy a stump or log. Strips of decayed wood 2 feet long, 

 4 inches wide, and an inch thick are often torn from a stump and 

 thrown several yards away. 



Woodpeckers signal each other by hammering upon a dead and 

 hollow limb or trunk of a tree, or upon the metallic cornice of a build- 

 ing. The pileated is an adept at such telegraphing, and its tattoo on 

 a particularly resonant piece of timber can be heard for more than a 

 mile. 



The pileated woodpecker seems to be distributed over the United 

 States in general, and north to Canada, but is absent from some large 

 areas, particularly in the southwestern United States, even where 

 there are extensive forests and other conditions apparently suited to 

 its tastes. It is not migratory in the usual sense, but in winter 

 wanders extensively, usually accompanied by its mate, which leads 

 to the belief that it mates for life. 



In the laboratory investigation of this bird's food 80 stomachs 

 were available. They were collected in 14 States, the District of 

 Columbia, and Canada, and are distributed in every month, though 

 May is represented by only 1. The animal food amounts to 72.88 

 per cent and the vegetable to 27.12. The former consists principally 

 of beetles and ants, and the latter of wild fruits. 

 75713 Bull. 3711 3 



