DOWNY WOODPECKER. 13 
tree, and upon examining the tree when the bird had flown it was 
found that wherever the bark had been injured the young larve of a 
wood-eating beetle had been snugly coiled underneath and had been 
destroyed by the bird.”! 
In the matter of vegetable diet, the taste of the Downy Woodpecker 
is varied, prompting him to eat, a little of a good many things rather 
than a large quantity of anyone. The following is alist of the vegetable 
substances that were identified: 
Grain: Miscellaneous: 
Indeterminable. Poison ivy seeds (Rhus radicans). 
Fruit: Poison sumac seeds (Rhus vernix). 
Dogwood berries (Cornus florida), (C. 
alternifolia), and (C. asperifolia). 
Virginia creeper berries (Partheno- 
cissus? quinquefolia). 
June or service berries (Amelanchier 
Harmless sumac seeds (Rhus sp.?). 
Mullein seeds (Verbascum thapsus). 
Hornbeam seeds (Ostrya virginana). 
Nut, unidentified. 
Flower petals and buds. 
canadensis). Galls. 
Strawberries (Fragaria). Cambium. 
Pokeberries (Phytolacca decandra). Seeds, unidentified. 
Apples. Rubbish. 
Unidentified. 
Material believed to be fragments of grain was found in 2 stomachs 
but the quantity was so small that it may be dismissed without further 
comment. Fruit is by far the largest item of vegetable diet, forming 
one-tenth of the whole food. Strawberry seeds were found in only 1 
stomach, apple pulp was supposed to be identified in 2, and the other 
varieties mentioned in the table were distributed in about the same 
proportion; so that no great economic interest can attach to this part 
of the birds’ diet. The seeds and other things included under the 
head ‘Miscellaneous’ constitute about one-twelfth of the total food. 
Seeds of poison ivy were found in 20 stomachs and poison sumac in 1, 
These plants, far from being harmful to the birds, seem to form a very 
agreeable article of diet, and are eaten by many species. Unfortunately 
these seeds are protected by a hard, horny covering which successfully 
resists the action of the stomach, so that they pass through the ali- 
mentary canal uninjured. It is probable that we owe to birds, more 
than any other agency, the presence of these noxious plants beside 
fences, copses, and hedge rows. The remaining vegetable food, about 
5 percent, was classed as rubbish, and will be discussed in connection 
with some of the other woodpeckers. 
No beechnuts were found in any of the stomachs examined, but Dr. 
Merriam informs me that in northern New York they feed extensively 
on this nut, particularly in fall, winter, and early spring. On April 5, 
1U.8. Agr. Rept. for 1865, 1866, p. 37-38. 
*Commonly called Ampelopsis. See (List of Pteridophyta and Spermatophyta), 
prepared by a committee of the Botanical Club of the A. A. A. 8., 1893-94, which 
has been followed in all questions of botanical. nomenclature. 
