HAIRY WOODPECKER. 15 
any considerable part of his fare. Beside the general resemblance 
between the two birds there is also a remarkable similarity in their 
food habits, as shown by the stomach contents; the greatest difference 
being that the Hairy eats a smaller percentage of insects than the 
Downy. Highty-two stomachs have been examined, collected during _. 
every mouth in the year, except February; and coming from 19 States, 
the District of Columbia, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; 
though most were from the northern United States. The proportion 
of different kinds of food is as. follows: Animal, 68 percent; vegeta- 
ble, 31 percent; mineral, 1 percent. The insect material was made 
up of ants, beetles, caterpillars, bugs, and grasshoppers. Spiders and 
myriapods also were present. An inspection of the percentages shows 
that ants are not so highly prized by the Hairy as by the Downy, since 
they constitute only about 17 percent of the whole food, or one-fourth 
of the insect portion. Beetles, both larval and adult, stand relatively 
higher than in the case. of the Downy, comprising 24 percent of all 
food, or more than one-third of the insect matter. Caterpillars were 
eaten in greater quantities, both actually and relatively, amounting to 
21 percent of the whole food, or moreethan. one-third of all the insect 
material. Spiders are weil represented, and aggregate nearly 6 per 
cent of the entire food. Among the miscellaneous insects were a few 
aphids or plant lice. Grasshoppers were. found in, only 1 stomach, 
but Professor Aughey found them in 4 out of 6 stomachs examined by 
him in Nebraska. 
Mr. F. M. Webster states that he has seen a Hairy*°Woodpecker suc- 
cessfully peck a hole through the parchment-like covering of the cocoon 
of a Cecropia moth, devouring the contents. On examining more than 
20 cocoons in a grove of boxelders he found only 2 uninjured. 
The Hairy Woodpecker selects a somewhat larger variety of vege- 
table food than the Downy, though of the same general character. 
The following list of fruits and seeds found in the stomachs does not 
indicate that the bird visits orchards and gardens for fruit so much as 
swamps and thickets, where wild grapes, woodbine, and dogwood 
bound: 
Grain: Fruit—Continued : 
Corn. Blackberries or raspberries (Rubus). 
Fruit: Pokeberries (Phytolacca decandra). 
Dogwood berries (Cornus florida and Unidentified. 
C. asperifolia). Miscellaneous : 
Virginia creeper berries (Partheno- Poison ivy seeds (Rhus radicans). 
cissus quinquefolia). Poison sumac seeds (Rhus vernix). 
June or service berries (Amelanchier Harmless sumac seeds (Rhus glabra). 
canadensis). Barngrass seeds (Chameraphis. sp?). 
Spice berries (Benzoin benzoin). Hazelnuts. ; 
Sourgum berries (Nyssa aquatica). Seeds unidentified. 
Wild black cherries (Prunus serotina). Cambium. 
Choke cherries (Prunus virginiana). Spruce foliage (Picea). 
Wild grapes (Vitis cordifolia). Rubbish. 
