22 FOOD OF WOODPECKERS OF UNITED STATES. 



Mountain ash (Sorfeus ainerwana). Alternate-leaved dogwood (Corrms aCter- 



Juneberry {Amelanchier canadensis) . nifolia). 



Poison U-y {Rhus radicans). Mullein ( Verbascum thapsus). 



Poison oak (Rhus dirersiloba). Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis). 



Woodbine (Parthenodssus quinquefolia) . Sunflower {Helianthus sp.). 



Flowering dogwood {Cornus florida). Blueberry ( Vacdnium sp.). 

 Rough-leaved dogwood (Cornus asptri- 

 folia). 



Summary. — The foregoing discussion of the food of the dowuy 

 ■woodpecker shows it to be one of our most useful species. The 

 only complaint against the bird is on the score of disseminating the 

 poisonous species of Rhus. However, it is fortunate that the bird 

 can live on this food when it is difficult to procure an3^thing else. 

 The insect food selected by the do-wny is almost all of species econom- 

 ically harmful. 



RED-COCKADED WOODPECKER. 



(Dryobates borealis.) 



The red-cockaded woodpecker is an inhabitant of the Lower 

 Austral zone of the Southeastern States from southern Virginia to 

 eastern Texas and southern Missouri. Pine woods are its favorite 

 haunts, and a large percentage of its food is obtained from pine trees. 

 No complaints hare ret been heard that this bird harms crops or 

 forest trees, nor do the contents of its stomach indicate that such is 

 the case. So far as known, it does not frequent orchards or cultivated 

 land. 



In the investigation of this bird's food 76 stomachs were available, 

 taken in the four States of Alabama, Floi'ida, Louisiana, and Texas. 

 They were collected in every month except June and July. Of the 

 total food 81.06 per cent was composed of insects, and the remainder, 

 18.94 per cent, of vegetalile matter, mostly seeds of conifei-s. 



Animal food. — ^Useful Coleoptera, i. e., carabids, were found in 7 

 stomachs, and amount to 0.53 per cent of the wliole food. _ Other 

 beetles, a large part of them the larva? of wood-boring species, aggre- 

 gate 10.49 per cent of the annual diet. Of these a number were 

 weevils or snout beetles. Of the two identified beetles in the list 

 which follows, the fu'st belongs to the Chrysomelida3 or leaf-eating 

 beetles; the other, Trogosita rirescens, is one of the most beneficial 

 species, since it preys upon the more destructive bark beetles and 

 bark-boring grubs. Ants are evidently the favorite food. They were 

 eaten in every month of which we have a record, and amoimt to a good 

 percentage in each. December, with a percentage of 27.43, was 

 apparently the month of least consumption, and September shows the 

 maximum of 79 per cent, but we have hardly enough data to obtain 

 fuial figures. The average for the j^ear is 56.75 per cent, a record 

 which is exceeded by that of only one other bird yet studied. 



