POOD OP SOME WELL-KNOWN BIRDS. 15 



front of the head (i. e., from bill to crown) red in combination with 

 a black patch on the breast. From 4 to 11 species of woodpeckers 

 other than sapsuckers occur in various sections of the United States. 

 A majority of woodpeckers seen are not sapsuckers and great care 

 should be taken to distinguish them. 



The method of destroying sapsuckers that threatens least danger to 

 other birds is poisoning. Mix thoroughly an eighth of an ounce of 

 powdered strychnine (the alkaloid) with one pint of honey or other 

 thick sirup. Apply to the injured tree just above rows of fresh 

 punctures. Poison may be administered also by putting small 

 pinches of the powdered strychnine directly into the freshest sap 

 pits.— W. L. M. 



HUMMINGBIRDS. 



Hummingbirds are popularly supposed to live upon the nectar of 

 flowers, and unquestionably this substance forms an important jjart 

 of their food. Close observation has shown, however, that these little 

 birds do not visit flowers wholly for the purpose of gathering honey, 

 nor do they obtain all their food from flowers. The writer has 

 observed them hovering in front of a cobweb, picking off insects and 

 perhaps spiders entangled in the net. They have also been observed 

 to capture their food on the wing, like flycatchers. Stomach exami- 

 nation shows that a considerable part of their food consists of in- 

 sects and spiders, with sometimes a very little vegetable matter. 



Only one species of hummingbird inhabits the eastern part of the 

 United States. This is the ruby-throat (Archiloclius cohibris) (fig. 

 5), which is more or less common almost everywhere in that region. 

 The writer has seen 100 of these tiny creatures hovering about the 

 flowers of a buckeye tree, and this number was maintained all day 

 and for many days, though the individuals were going and coming 

 all the time. 



In order to obtain definite knowledge as to the food of humming- 

 birds in general, and the ruby-throat in particular, 59 stomachs of 

 this species were examined. Although the humming birds are the 

 smallest of the avian race, their stomachs are much smaller in propor- 

 tion to their bodies than those of other birds, while their livers are 

 much larger. This would indicate these birds live to a considerable 

 extent upon concentrated sweets, as stated above, and that the insects, 

 spiders, etc., found in the stomachs do not represent by any means 

 all their food. The quantities of food found in these tiny stomachs 

 are so minute and the insects comprising them are so small that iden- 

 tification is very difficult and uncertain, but it is believed that the 

 following statements do not contain any serious errors. 



The animal food formed 94.32 per cent of the whole, and what was 

 taken for vegetable matter made up the remainder, 5.68 per cent. 



5(115 



