22 THE FOOD OF WOODPECKERS. 



In an interesting article in the Auk/ Mr. O. P. Hay says that in cen- 

 tral Indiana during a good beechnut year, from the time the nuts began 

 to ripen, the Bedheads were almost constantly on the wing, passing 

 from the beeches to some place of deposit. They hid the nuts in almost 

 every conceivable situation. Many were placed in cavities in partly 

 decayed trees; and the felling of an old beech was certain to provide 

 a feast for the children. Large handfuls were taken froin a single knot 

 hole. They were often found under a patch of raised bark, and single 

 nuts were driven into cracks in the bark. Others were thrust into 

 cracks in gateposts ; and a favorite place of deposit was behind long 

 slivers on fence posts. In a few cases grains of corn were mixed with 

 beechnuts. Nuts were often driven into cracks in the ends of railroad 

 ties; and the birds were often seen on the roofs of houses pounding 

 nuts into the crevices between the shingles. In several instances the 

 space formed by a board springing away from a fence was nearly filled 

 with nuts, and afterwards pieces of bark and wood were brought and 

 driven over the nuts as if to hide them from poachers. 



In summer Dr. Merriam has seen the Bedheads "make frequent 

 sallies into the air after passing insects, which were almost invariably 

 secured." He has also seen them catch grasshoppers on the ground in 

 a pasture. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher saw several Eed-headed Woodpeckers feeding on 

 grasshoppers in the streets at Miles City, Mont., in the latter part ot 

 July, 1893. Several of the birds were seen capturing these insects near 

 the hotel throughout the greater part of the forenoon. From a regu- 

 lar perch on top of a telegraph pole or cottonwood they descended on 

 their prey, sometimes eating them on the ground, but more often 

 returned to their former post to devour them. 



The following interesting observation was made by Dr. G. S. Agers- 

 borg, of Vermillion, S. Dak. :^ 



Last spring, in opening a good many birds of this species with the object of ascer- 

 taining their principal food, I found in their stomachs nothing but young grass- 

 hoppers. One of them, which had its headquarters near my house, was observed 

 making frequent visits to an old oak post, and on examining it I found a large crack 

 where the woodpecker had inserted about 100 grasshoppers of all sizes (for future 

 use, as later observation proved), which were put in without killing them, but they 

 were so firmly wedged in the crack that they in vain tried to get free. I told this to 

 a couple of farmers, and found that they had also seen the same thing, and showed 

 me posts which were used for the same purpose. Later in the season the wood- 

 pecker whose station was near my house, commenced to use his stores, and to-day 

 (February 10), there are only a few shriveled-up grasshoppers left. 



Mr. Charles Aldrich, of Webster City, Iowa, states that he saw a Eed- 

 headed Woodpecker catching grasshoppers on the prairie half a mile 

 from timber. In Nebraska grasshoppers were found in 4 out of 6 

 stomachs examined by Prof. Samuel Aughey. 



1 Auk. Vol. IV, 1887, pp. 194,195. 



2 Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, Vol. Ill, 1878, p, 97. 



