10 



FOOD OF SOME WELL-KNOWN BIRDS. 



largest item of food. It was found in 20 stomachs and constitutes 

 34.4G per cent of the diet. One stomach taken in December con- 

 tained 75 per cent of this food. Seeds of poison oak {Rhus diversi- 

 loha) and a weed {Amaranthus) made up 2.05 per cent, the remain- 

 der of the vegetable food. 



Summary. — The animal food of this bird»has no special significance 

 either way. It does not damage grain, but has a pronounced taste 

 for fruit, which at present is gratified mostl,y by wild species, but 

 if these are ever replaced by cultivated species in the bird's range 

 it will probably turn its attention to the domestic varieties. — 

 F. E. L. B. 



RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 



(Ccnturus carolinus.) 

 The red-bellied woodpecker (fig. 3) ranges over the eastern United 

 States as far west as central Texas and eastern Colorado and as far 



Fig. 3.- 



-Rcd-belliec! woodpecker. 



nortli as New York, southern Ontario, Michigan, and southern 

 Minnesota. It breeds throughout this range and appears to be 

 irregularly migratory. It appears to go north of its breeding range 

 sometimes to spend the winter. Four stomachs, collected in Novem- 

 ber and December, were received from Canada, and in eight years' 

 residence in central Iowa the writer found the species abundant 

 every winter, but never saw one in the breeding season. It is rattier 

 more of a forest bird than some of the other woodpeckers, but is 

 frequently seen in open or thinly timbered country. In the northern 

 part of its range it appears to prefer deciduous growth,, but in the 

 South is very common in pine forests. 



506 



