148 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. IV. 



particular kind of food eaten by a bird, but as to the fact that it is 

 eaten at all. The further difficulty of keeping a number of birds, 

 or even a single one, under constant observation makes an estimate 

 of relative proportions of different kinds of food impossible. When 

 much mischief is done the fact is apparent, but there is no way to 

 find out bow much good is done during the same time. For these 

 reasons it often happens that reports on food habits, based on obser- 

 vations of wild birds, not only conflict with each other but also dis- 

 agree with the results obtained from stomach examinations. This 

 last method must be taken as the court of final appeal, and it is evi- 

 dent that a collection of stomachs covering every month in the year, 

 and as nearly as may be all points of the bird's range, becomes more 

 and more trustworthy as it increases in size ; in other words, the 

 more stomachs examined the nearer correct will be the result as to 

 the bird's annual diet. 



The present paper is merely a preliminary report, based on the 

 examination of 679 stomachs of Woodpeckers, and representing only 

 seven species — all from the Eastern United States. These species 

 are the Downy Woodpecker [Dryobates pubescent), the Hairy Wood- 

 pecker {D. villosus)y the Flicker or Golden-w^inged Woodpecker 

 {Colaptes auratus), the Red-headed Woodpecker {Melanerpes ery- 

 throcephalus)y\h& Red-bellied Woodpecker {Melanerpes carolinus), 

 the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker [Sphyrapicus varius), and the great 

 Pileated Woodpecker [Ceophlceiis pileatus). Examination of their 

 stomachs shows that the percentage of animal food (consisting 

 almost entirely of insects) is greatest in the Downy, and grades down 

 through the Hairy, Flicker, Pileated, Red-head, and Yellow-bellied 

 to the Red-bellied, which takes the smallest quantity of insects. 

 Professor Samuel Aughey stated that all of these species, except the 

 Pileated (which was not present), fed upon locusts or grasshoppers 

 during the devastating incursions of these insects in Nebraska. The 

 vegetable matter, of course, stands in inverse order. The greatest 

 quantity of mineral matter (sand) is taken by the Flicker, somewhat 

 less by the Red-head, very little by the Downy and Hairy, and none 

 at all by the Yellow-bellied and Pileated. 



The stomachs of all of the seven species except the Red-head and 

 the Red-bellied contained the substance designated as * cambium ' in 

 the accompanying list of vegetable food. This is the layer of 

 mucilaginous material lying just|inside of_^the bark of trees, and from 

 which both bark and wood are formed. It is supposed by many to 

 be the main object sought by woodpeckers. Except in the case of 

 a single species the stomach examination does not bear out this 



