WOODPECKER FAMILY. 21 
a 1 
35 percent of fruit pulp not further identified. The greater part of 
the fruit eaten is of wild species, of which the elder (Sambucus) is the 
favorite. Rubus fruits (raspberry or blackberry) were found in a 
few stomachs. Probably this bird will never do any serious harm by 
eating fruit. Seeds of poison oak, cambium, and mast (acorns) make 
up the other 11 percent of the vegetable food, and have no special 
economic interest, except that the scattering abroad of the seeds of 
poison oak is a nuisance. Taken as a whole, the vegetable food of 
the Nuttall is of little economic importance. 
SUMMARY. 
While the evidence at hand does not show that this bird feeds on 
any specific pest, yet it is doing good i in preying upon noxious insects 
in general; moreover, it does not injure any product of husbandry. 
It should therefore be encouraged to pursue its good work. 
RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER. 
(Sphyrapicus ruber.) 
While the red-breasted sapsucker inhabits most of California at 
some time of the year, it is generally absent from the valleys during 
the warmer months, usually retiring to the mountains and forest 
regions to breed. 
Of the 24 stomachs of this species received, nearly all were taken 
in fruit-growing sections, and represent only the months from Sep- 
tember to March inclusive. Statements based upon the examination 
of so little material can scarcely be considered final, but considerable 
knowledge may be gained of the kinds of food eaten, even if the 
relative quantities can not be determined. The food consists of 63 
percent of animal matter and 37 percent of vegetable. 
Animal food.—Seventy-five percent of the animal food consists of 
ants, and the average per month is 40 percent of the whole diet. Two 
stomachs taken in January contained an average of 49 percent each. 
One stomach collected in March held 84 percent, and one in September 
was completely filled with them. In other months the amounts were 
less. In respect to ant eating this sapsucker keeps up the reputation 
of the family. Other Hymenoptera aggregate only a little more than 
7 percent, and all were found in stomachs taken from October to 
December inclusive. 
This bird, like its eastern relative, has the habit of removing patches 
of bark from certain live trees, usually willows, for the sake of cam- 
bium and of the sap which exudes; and it also eats the insects at- 
tracted by the sap, which are mostly bees, wasps, and ants; prob- 
ably this accounts for the large predominance of Hymenoptera in the 
sapsucker’s diet. 
