16 THE FOOD OF WOOKPECKERS. 
The only grain discovered was corn, which was found in 2 stom- 
achs. In one case it was green corn in the milk, but this is hardly 
sufficient to prove the habit of eating corn. Fruit aggregates a little 
more than 11 percent of the food of the species, and is fairly distrib- 
uted among all the items in the above list. Since blackberries are the 
only kind of cultivated fruit found in the stomachs, and since they grow 
wild in abundance, it is evident that the Hairy Woodpecker does not at 
present cause any great damage by his fruit-eating habits. The sub- 
stances in the miscellaneous list form about 11 percent of the whole food, 
and are: practically of the same character as in the case of the Downy. 
Poison ivy seeds were eaten by 7 birds, and poison sumac by only 1, so 
that not so many seeds of these undesirable shrubs are distributed by 
the Hairy as by'the Downy. The weed seeds in the stomachs were 
few in number, but in Iowa both the Hairy and the Downy Woodpeckers 
feed largely on weed seeds in winter, stomachs taken then containing 
little else. Rubbish amounts.to about one-twelfth of all their food, 
which is the largest percentage shown by any species. 
Dr. Merriam informs.me. that in northern New York the Hairy Wood- 
pecker, like the other woodpeckers of the Adirondack region, feeds 
largely on beechnuts. In late fall, winter, and early spring following 
good yields of beechnuts the nuts form the principal food of the 
woodpeckers. 
FLICKER. 
(Colaptessauratus.) 
This bird, one of the largest and best known of our woodpeckers, is 
more migratory than either the Hairy or Downy, in winter being scarce 
or absent fromr its breeding range in the Northern States, where it is 
very abundant in summer and early fall. The Yellow-shafted Flicker 
is distributed throughout the United States east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. In the West it is replaced by the Red-shafted Flicker, which 
may be considered the same so far as food habits are concerned. 
Under one or the other of its. various titles of Flicker, Golden-winged 
Woodpecker, High-holder, Yellow-hammer, Pigeon Woodpecker, and 
Hairy-wicket, it is. known to every farmer and schoolboy and, unfortu- 
nately, to certain.so-called sportsmen also, for this is the one woodpecker 
that is often seen in city markets. In most places it is a much shyer 
bird than either of the preceding, and while it frequents the farm and 
approaches buildings-freely it keeps more in the tops of the trees and 
does not allow so near an.approach of its greatest enemy, man. This is 
particularly true in the northeastern part of the country, where large 
bags of Pigeon Woodpeckers are annually made among the wild cherry 
trees in which the birds feed. The Flickers soon learn whom they have 
to fear, and such knowledge seems to be hereditary. They are very 
prolific, rearing from six to ten young at a brood, and so keep reason- 
ably abundant in most parts of the country. The Flicker is the most 
