10 
poison ivy, sumac, and a few other shrubs. The flicker also eats a great 
many small fruits and the seeds of a considerable number of shrubs 
and weeds. None of the three species is much given to eating culti- 
vated fruits or crops. 
The redhead has been accused of eating the larger kinds of fruit, 
such as apples, and also of taking considerable corn. The stomach 
examinations show that to some extent these charges are substantiated, 
but that the habit is not prevalent enough to cause much damage. It 
is quite fond of mast, especially beechnuts, and when these nuts are 
roast £ 
act 
i 
aS 
i 
H 
Fira. 5.—Yellow-bellicd woodpecker. 
plentiful the birds remain north all winter, instead of migrating as is 
their usual custom. 
Half the food of the sapsucker, aside from sap, consists of vegetable 
matter, largely berries of the kinds already mentioned, and also a quan- 
tity of the inner bark of trees, more of which is eaten by this species 
than by any other. 
Many other woodpeckers are found in America, but their food habits 
agree in the main with those just described. These birds are certainly 
