30 THE FOOD OF WOODPECKERS. 
thing like the extent to which sap drinking occupies it; * * * that the forest 
trees attacked by them generally die, possibly in the second or third year of use; 
that tho total damage done by them is too insignificant to justify their persecution 
in well-wooded regions. ! 
Mr. Bolles shot 8 Sapsuckers in July and August, 1890. Their stom- 
achs “were well filled with insects.” Some of these were examined by 
Mr. Samuel H. Scudder, who states: 
The insects in the different stomachs are in all eases almost exclusively composed of 
the harder chitinous parts of ants. In acursory examination I find little else, though 
one or two beetles are represented, and No, 4 must have swallowed an entire wasp 
of the largest size, his head and wings attesting thereto.? 
In a subsequent article Mr. Bolles gives the result of an attempt to 
keep several young Sapsuckers alive on a diet of dilute maple sirup. 
Unfortunately for the experiment, the birds obtained and greedily 
devoured numerous insects attracted to the cage by the sirup. How 
many of the insects were eaten was not known, but all of the birds 
died within four months. Examination of their bodies showed fatty 
degeneration of the liver—a condition said to be usual in cases of star- 
vation. Mr. Bolles states: 
The most probable cause of this enlargement of the liver, which seems to have 
been the reason for the death of the 3 Sapsuckers, was an undue proportion of 
sugar in their diet. In a wild state they would have eaten insects every day and 
kept their stomachs well filled with the chitinous parts of acid insects. Under 
restraint they secured fewer and fewer insects, until, during the last few weeks of 
their lives, they had practically no solid food of any kind.* 
Mr. Bolles has thus proved by experiment that concentrated sap 
(saturated with sugar) is not sufficient to sustain life, even with the 
addition of a small percentage of insects. The logical inference is 
that sap, while liked by the birds and consumed in large quantities, 
holds asubordinate place as an article of food. 
The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker is represented in the collection by 
81 stomachs, distributed rather irregularly through the year. None were 
taken in ebruary, March, or November, and only a few in January, 
June, and December; the great bulk were collected in April, August, 
September, and October. They were obtained from 15 States, the 
District of Columbia, and Nova Scotia. All were from the Northern 
States, except a few from North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of 
Columbia. Unlike any of the preceding species the vegetable element 
of the food here exactly equals the animal part. The insect matter 
was made up of ants, wasps, beetles, flies, bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, 
and mayflies. Some spiders also were present. Of the whole food, 36 
percent consisted of ants, a higher percentage than in any other wood- 
pecker except the Flicker. Beetles amounted to 5 percent, and do not 
appear to be a favorite food. Flies (Diptera) in various forms were 
‘Tho Auk, Vol. VIII, July, 1891, p. 270. 
*The Auk, Vol. VIII, July, 1891, p. 269. 
‘The Auk, Vol. IX, April, 1892, p. 119. 
