No. 3.] Reprints and Miscellaneous Notes. 147 



Black, short and thickly clothed with hair; head and antennee 

 reddish yellow ; proboscis and palpi black. Wings dark, blackish 

 blue, metallic ; basal cells, alulae, and squamae snow-white. Halteres 

 and legs black. On the head and on the margins of the abdominal 

 segments silvery white reflexions. In general appearance resembling 

 a Pharyngomyia. Female with the front broader and the ovipositor 

 black ; otherwise precisely like the male. 



Length of body 12-14 millim. 



Length of wing lo-ii millim. 



The larvae leave the host in the early hours of the morning, 

 pupate in from one to two days, and the imago appears sixteen days 

 after the exit of the larvae. 



Copulation takes place immediately.— -5'zVs^««^j3. kais. Akad, der 

 Wiss. Wien, Jahrg 1896, No. XVII, pages 180-182. 



III. FOOD OF WOODPECKERS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



{'Reprint of a report by F. E, L, Bealy Esq,, published in Bulletin 

 No. 7, United States, Department of Agriculture, Division of 

 Ornithology and Mammalogy, iSg^.) 



General Remarks. — With the possible exception of the crow, 

 no birds are subject to more adverse criticism than woodpeckers. 

 Usually no attempt is made to discriminate between the numerous 

 species, and little account is taken of the good they do in destroying 

 injurious insects. The name ' Sap-sucker ' has been applied to two 

 or three of the smaller kinds, in the belief that they subsist to a great 

 extent upon the juices of trees, obtained from the small holes they 

 make in the bark. There can be little doubt that one species, the 

 Yellow-bellied Woodpecker {Sphyrapicus varius), does live to a con- 

 siderable extent upon this sap. Observation does not show that 

 other species have the same habit, but it is a difficult point to 

 decide by dissection, as fluid contents disappear quickly from the 

 stomach. 



Many observers have testified to the good work these birds do in 

 destroying insects, while others have spoken of harm done to fruit 

 or grain. Both are correct within certain limits. 



Field observation on the food habits of birds is attended with 

 so many difficulties as to render it a very unreliable source from 

 which to draw general conclusions. The most conscientious and 

 careful person is often deceived, not only as to the quantity of a 



