10 THE FOOD OF WOODPECKERS. 
fondness for predaceous beetles must be reckoned against it. It also 
leads in the consumption of grasshoppers; these and beetles together 
forming 36 percent of its whole food. The stomachs yielded enough 
corn to show that it has a taste for that grain, though not enough to 
indicate that any material damageis done. It eats largely of wild fruit, 
and also partakes rather freely of cultivated varieties, showing some 
preference for the larger ones, such as apples. In certain localities, 
particularly in winter, it feeds extensively on beechnuts. No charge 
can be brought against it on the score of injuring trees by pecking. 
The Red-bellied Woodpecker is more of a vegetarian than any of 
the others. In certain localities in Florida it does some damage to 
oranges, but the habit is not genera]. On the other hand, it eats quan- 
tities of ants and beetles. 
The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker seems to show only one question- 
able trait, that of a fondness for the sap and inner bark of trees, 
Both field observations and the contents of the stomachs prove this 
charge against it, but it is not probable that forest trees are exten- 
sively injured, or that they ever will be, for aside from the fact that 
the bark of many trees would be unpalatable an immense number of 
birds would be required to do serious damage. But with fruit trees 
the case is different. Their number is limited, and there are no super- 
fluous ones as in the forest. In localities where the bird is abundant 
considerable harm may be done to apple trees, which appear to be 
pleasing to its taste. 
The Pileated Woodpecker is more exclusively a forest bird than any 
of the others, and its food consists of such elements as the woods 
afford, particularly the larvee of wood-boring beetles, and wild fruits. 
The species is emphatically a conservator of the forests. 
In describing the stomach contents of the different woodpeckers a 
quantity of material is classed under the term ‘rubbish. The great 
bulk of this stuff is rotten wood and bark, picked up in digging for 
insects in decayed timber, and apparently swallowed accidentally with 
the food. Ifthe 6 woodpeckers which had eaten rotten wood are com- 
pared with respect to the quantity of this material contained in the 
stomachs it.is found that the Hairy Woodpecker stands at the head 
with 8 percent, the Downy next with 5, the Flicker with 3, the Redhead 
and Yellow-bellied with 1 percent each, and the Pileated with only a 
trace. From this it appears that the Hairy Woodpecker is preeminently 
a woodpecker, while the Redhead and Yellow-belly do much less of this 
kind of work. The difference in habit is obvious to the most casual 
observer. The Redhead is ordinarily seen upon a fence post or tele- 
graph pole hunting for insects that alight on these exposed surfaces, 
and watching for others that fly near enough to be captured in mid-air. 
Unlike other woodpeckers, he is seldom seen digging at a rotten branch 
except in spring, when 18 prepares a home for the family he intends 
to rear. The Yellow-bellied, as will be shown presently, does much 
wood for bark) pecking. but of another kind, 
