THE OOLOGIST 



31 



at bottom of cavity, pure glossy white 

 Drumming is a very noticeable feat- 

 ure of the Downy in the spring; they 

 using some resoundant limb or tree 

 trunk as a sounding board and I think 

 is used as a call to its mate. Dili- 

 gence in the search of food is charac- 

 teristic of the Downy and their ,f once 

 over" of the old apple tree is through; 

 his industry is unequaled. They are 

 very confiding when thus busily en- 

 gaged and one may approach pretty 

 close to the tree without disturbing 

 the worker. Some farmers regard the 

 Woodpecker tribe as an evil, claiming 

 damage to trees by their drilling of 

 holes, large and small, in the trunks 

 and large limbs of their shade and 

 apple trees, by the making parallel 

 rows of shallow holes around the 

 trunks. But I cannot agree with them; 

 no doubt there is some unavoidable 

 damage caused by the Downy in its 

 search for insects, but I consider it 

 of small moment compared with the 

 amount of good it does by destruction 

 of insects, grubs, bores, etc. Forbush 

 states of its being observed to eat 

 wood-boring ants, apple tree borers, 

 cocoons of codling moth, Hairy Cater- 

 pillars, pupae of Gypsy Moths, and 

 sometimes the apples on the tree is 

 attacted by the Downy, but he thinks 

 only of wormy apples. The young are 

 largely fed on caterpillars of various 

 sorts. Dr. Merriam found the stom- 

 achs of four Downys filled with 



beechnuts, and has seen this species 

 eat the berries of the mountain ash. 

 Forbush says it eats bay-berries also. 

 Beal; Biol. Bull. No. 7, says, "of the 

 seven species considered, the Downy 

 Woodpecker is the most beneficial." 

 The stomachs of 8 out of 11 killed in 

 Kansas in winter contained to the ex- 

 tent of 10 per cent of all their food, 

 eggs of grasshoppers. 



Bird and Animal Life in Menard Co., 

 Texas 



While on a hunt in December, 1916, 

 I observed many birds and animals. 

 The hunt was made in Menard County, 

 Texas. The small town of Menard is 

 at the end of the Frisco R. R. In 

 Southwest Texas bird and animal life 

 is still existing but not increasing. We 

 traveled south from Menard in a 

 wagon. Along the road I saw several 

 bunches of Bob White. One bunch of 

 eight wild turkey passed in front of 

 us. Saw many birds such as Green 

 Jay, Meadow Lark, Towhee, Road Run- 

 ner, Krider and Sparrow Hawk, Slate 

 colored Junco, Cedar Waxwings, and 

 Robins. We passed through several 

 large prairie dog towns. They were 

 plentiful and seemed to be tame and 

 happy. As there is no damage for 

 them to do they are left unmolested. 

 Rabbits were scarce this year on ac- 

 count of a disease which struck them, 

 killing nearly every rabbitt in the 

 country. Fox and grey squirrels were 

 more than plentiful as no one ever 

 shoots a squirrel. Black squirrels 

 were scarce in the country we traveled 

 through. Chipmunks and ground 

 squirrels were noticed during a warm 

 day. Armodillas are more than plenti- 

 ful this year. They are not afraid of 

 anything and will feed up as close as 

 two feet of you before scenting dan- 

 ger. We observed more than a hun- 

 dred in a day's time. A few people 

 in that country make baskets out of 

 their shells. I brought home five 

 shells and one live one. We have 

 lots of fun here in the shop telling 

 people they are South American grave 

 robbers. A carnival came to Menard. 

 One of the shows had a large banner 

 with an armodilla as big as an ele- 

 phant painted on it. They called it 

 the ferocious South American grave 

 robber , the only one in captivity. Of 

 course all the people in Menard had 



