GENERAL REMARKS. 9 
It is a difficult task to summarize the results of the investigations 
herein detailed, more especially if an attempt is made to decide as to 
the comparative merits or demerits of each particular species. The 
stomach examinations do not always corroborate the testimony 
received from observers, and many no doubt will be inclined to think 
they have seen more harm done by some members of this family of 
birds than is shown by the data here published. If birds are seen 
feeding repeatedly on a certain kind of food the inference is that they 
are particularly fond of it, but the truth may be that they are eating 
it because they can find nothing they like better, and that a collection 
of their stomachs from many localities would show only a small per- 
centage of this particular food. 
In reviewing the results of these investigations and comparing one 
species with another, without losing sight of the fact that comparative 
good is not necessarily positive good, it appears that of 7 species 
considered the Downy Woodpecker is the most beneficial. This is due 
in part to the great number of insects it eats and in part to the nature 
of its vegetable food, which is of little value to man. Three-fourths 
of its food consists of insects, and few of these are useful kinds. Of 
grain, 1t eats practically none. The greatest sin we can lay at its door 
1s the dissemination of poison ivy. 
The Hairy Woodpecker probably ranks next to the Downy in point 
of usefulness. It eats fewer ants, but a relatively larger percentage 
of beetles and caterpillars. Its grain-eating record is trifling; 2 
stomachs taken in September and October contained corn. For fruit, 
it seeks the forests and swamps, where it finds wild cherries, grapes, 
and the berries of dogwood and Virginia creeper. It eats fewer seeds 
of the poison ivy and poison sumac than the Downy. 
The Flicker eats a smaller percentage of insects than either the 
Downy or the Hairy Woodpecker, but if eating ants is to be considered 
a virtue, as we have endeavored to show, then surely this bird must be 
exalted, for three-fourths of all the msects it eats, comprising nearly 
half of its whole food, are ants. It is accused of eating corn; how little 
its stomach yields is shown on another page. Fruit constitutes about 
one-fourth of its whole fare, but the bird depends on nature and not 
on man to furnish the supply. 
Judged by the results of the stomach examinations of the Downy 
and Hairy Woodpecker and Flicker it would be hard to find three other 
species of our common birds with fewer harmful qualities. Not one of 
the trio shows a questionable trait, and they should be protected and 
encouraged in every possible way. Fortunately, only one, the Flicker, 
is hable to destruction, and for this bird each farmer and landowner 
should pass a protective law of his own. 
The Redhead makes the best showing of the seven species in the 
kinds of insects eaten. It consumes fewer ants and more beetles than 
any of the others, in this respect standing at the head, and it has a pro- 
nounced taste for beetles of very large size. Unfortunately, however, its 
