ie5 Indian Museum Notes. [Vol. IV. 



No beechnuts were found in any of the stomachs examined, but 

 Dr. Merriam informs me that in Northern New York they feed 

 extensively on this nut, particularly in fall, winter and early spring. 

 On April 5th, 1878, Dr. Merriam " shot four Downy Woodpeckers 

 all of whose gizzards were full of beechnuts and contained nothing 

 else. The birds were often seen on moss-covered logs, and even 

 on the ground, searching for the nuts exposed by the melting snow." 

 Dr. Merriam states also that he has seen this woodpecker in the fall 

 eat the red berries of the mountain ash. 



HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



{Dryobates villosus.) 



This woodpecker is as common as the Downy in most parts of 

 the United States, and to the ordinary eye can only be distinguished 

 by its greater size, its colour and markings being almost exactly 

 the same. The Hairy is a noisier bird, however, often making his 

 presence known by loud calls and obtrusive behaviour and by rapid 

 flights from tree to tree. Like the Downy, he has been accused 

 of depredations on fruit, but the stomachs examined ^do not show 

 that cultivated varieties form any considerable part of his fare. 

 Beside the general resemblance between the two birds there is 

 also a remarkable similarity in their food habits, as shown by the 

 stomach contents ; the greatest difference being that the Hairy 

 eats a smaller percentage of insects than the Downy. Eighty-two 

 stomachs have been examined, collected during every month in the 

 year, except February ; and coming from nineteen States, the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, though 

 most were from the Northern United States. The proportion of 

 different kinds of food is as follows : — Animal 68 per cent. ; vegetable 

 31 per cent. ; mineral i per cent. The insect material was made up 

 of ants, beetles, caterpillars, bugs, and grasshoppers. Spiders and 

 myriapods also were present. An inspection of the percentages 

 shows that ants are not so highly prized by the Hairy as by the 

 Downy, since they constitute only about 17 per cent, of the whole 

 food, or one-fourth of the insect portion. Beetles, both larval and 

 adult, stand relatively higher than in the case of the Downy, compris- 

 ing 24 per cent, of all food, or more than one-third of the insect 

 matter. Caterpillars were eaten in greater quantities, both actually 

 and relatively, amounting to 21 per cent, of the whole food, or more 



