40 FOOD OF WEST VIRGINIA BIRDS 



in the notes that follow, some species do harm, but, as Prof. Beal says, 

 "These birds are certainly the only agents which can successfully cope 

 with certain insect enemies of the forests, and, to some extent, of fruit 

 trees also. For this reason, if for no other, they should be protected 

 in every possible way." 



Downy and Hairy. 



Two of our smaller Woodpeckers are very similar and can be dis- 

 tinguished only with careful observation. These are the Hairy and 

 Downy. The former is the larger of the two and in most sections by 

 far the rarer, though in certain mountain sections of our State I have 

 found the Hairy Woodpecker to be the most common member of the 

 family. The Downy is to be found everywhere throughout the State, 

 common in the great forest sections, the farming regions and in villages 

 and towns alike. It is not at all strange to see a Downy Woodpecker 

 quite at home in the shade trees along a busy street. The food of these 

 two species consists of such insects as they gather from under the edges 

 of the outer bark of trees and from the wood into which they make their 

 excavations. I have examined apple trees where the Downy had been 

 working and found many scales of the outer bark that had been punc- 

 tured by these little Woodpeckers in their search for the pupae of the 

 codling moth. Many of these injurious insects are destroyed in this 

 way. Both the Downy and the Hairy eat wood-boring grubs, caterpillars, 

 beetles, ants and many other insects that are found about the trunks 

 and limbs of trees. In her interesting little book on the Woodpecker 

 family Fanny Hardy Eckstrom says, "Downy works at his self-appointed 

 task in our orchards summer and winter as regular as a policeman on 

 his beat. But he is much better than a policeman, for he acts as judge, 

 jury, jailer, and jail. All the evidence he asks against an insect is to find 

 him loafing about the premises." 



Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. 



During my years of study of the birds of West Virginia I have gathered 

 voluminous notes on the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. This is a rather 

 obscure member of the family, yet its work is much in evidence. Prac- 

 tically every apple treee in our orchards shows punctures made by these 

 birds, and many of the forest trees have been marked in the same way. 

 This species occurs as a migrant in most of our State appearing only 

 for a little while each spring and fall. High up in the mountains I 

 have found it breeding in the summer. At several points I have found 

 these birds nesting, and there is no doubt that they nest quite generally 

 throughout all the higher ranges of the Alleghenies. From many points 

 of view this Woodpecker is important economically. In the first place 

 it is known to destroy many forest and orchard insects. I have seen 

 this bird capturing insects that had been attracted to the punctures in 

 trees that the bird had made, by the flowing of the sweet juices. Then, 

 too, this species destroys some trees and does not a little damage by 

 the punctures it makes. Dr. A. D. Hopkins, who has made a special 



