512 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



eral of these are trees mainly southern in range, and do not grow 

 in the northern breeding area. Beal (1. c, p. 30 ) says " Poison-ivy 

 seed was contained in seven stomachs and poison sumac in one, so 

 the Sapsucker does little harm by distributing the seed of these 

 noxious plants." Ants form the largest part, or 69 per cent, of the 

 animal food, and about one-third of all the food; the remainder of 

 the animal food consists of insects. Bolles ('92) experimented 

 with young birds, feeding them on maple-sugar syrup to see if they 

 could live solely on such a diet. Although these birds secured 

 some insect food they lived about four months and died with 

 diseased livers, showing that syrup was not a normal diet. 



To evaluate the ant food of the Sapsucker it is desirable to con- 

 sider the role of ants in the forest, as expressed by Wheeler ('10, 

 p. 8), who says: " Eminent economic entomologists, like Taschen- 

 berg and Ratzeburg, who have studied the ants in the German for- 

 est preserves, are of the opinion that they are highly beneficial. A 

 German law, passed in 1880, punishes with a fine of 100 marks or 

 a month's imprisonment any person who collects the cocoons of the 

 fallow ant, Formica rufa, or wantonly disturbs its nests in the for- 

 est preserves. * * * The greatest usefulness of ants, which 

 lies in their power to hasten the decomposition of organic sub- 

 stances, is easily overlooked or belittled, like all the great forces 

 which act very gradually but incessantly. * * * (p. 9) : The 

 activities of ants in excavating their nests have a very useful aspect. 

 Most of the species, especially in temperate latitudes, nest in the 

 ground, and many of them in so doing are obliged to comminute 

 and bring to the surface, often from a depth of several feet, con- 

 siderable quantities of subsoil. This is spread over the surface 

 either by the elements or by the ants themselves and exposed to 

 the sun and atmosphere. The burrows, moreover, quickly conduct 

 air and moisture into the deeper recesses of the soil. Thus the 

 ants act on the soil like the earthworms, and this action is by no 

 means inconsiderable, although as yet no one has studied it in 

 detail." The conversion of plant remains, leaves and wood into 

 humus and soil serves in addition to its enrichment as an important 

 protective factor in the forest, by rapidly converting this highly 

 inflammable material into a less inflammable state, and thus aiding 

 in fire protection. Of course, there are many animals, besides ants, 

 which have this influence on the forest. 



In August, 1916, an effort was made to learn something of the 

 relation of Sapsuckers to the ants which were commonly observed 

 crawling on the trunks of the trees frequented by these birds. The 

 materials were later sent to Dr. W. M. Wheeler, Harvard Uni- 

 versity, who kindly made the determinations. On an aspen sucker 

 attending plant lice was found (No. 11) Formica fusca, and crawl- 

 ing on the trunks were (No. 27) Camponotus hercidcanus ligni- 

 perda noveboracensis and Formica fusca. 



On August 21, I observed a Sapsucker crawling about over a 

 large white pine, apparently picking up insects occasionally from 

 the bark. When it flew awav I found on the bark near where the 



