346 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 
Woodpecker, which are separable only by size, the Hairy being at least 
twice as heavy as the Downy. In each the male has a scarlet nape patch 
which the female lacks. 
Distribution.—Northern and middle portions of the eastern United 
States from Atlantic coast to the Great Plains. 
In Michigan this is a common woodpecker wherever there is any con- 
siderable amount of woodland, but the bird is also seen during the colder 
half of the year in orchards and groves at considerable distances from 
large tracts of timber. It is commonly considered a resident wherever 
found, but certainly there is a well marked movement southward in the 
fall, since we have numerous reports from southern and southeastern 
Michigan to the effect that it is much more common in winter than in 
summer. Although widely distributed and nowhere rare, it is never really 
abundant; it is also rather a solitary bird, seldom seen except singly or in 
pairs, although for a few weeks after the young leave the nest family 
parties of four to seven may be encountered once in a while. 
It nests early in the season, and eggs may be found from the last week in 
April to the middle of May according to latitude. Fully fledged young are 
abroad the first week in July, or somewhat earlier in the southern part 
of the state. The nest is a neat hole dug by the birds themselves in the 
dead wood of a trunk or limb, usually at some little height above the ground. 
In some regions maple seems to be preferred, but nests are often found 
in willow, poplar, and other soft wood trees. According to Bendire the 
eggs are usually four, sometimes three or five, rarely if ever more. They 
are pure white, unspotted, polished, like the eggs of all woodpeckers, and 
average .93 by .69 inches. 
The food of this species is very similar to that of the Downy Woodpecker, 
but is of less account to the orchardist, since the present species is less 
often found outside continuous woods. According to Beal, who reported 
on 82 stomachs examined at the Department of Agriculture, in Washington, 
68 percent of the food consisted of animal matter and 31 percent of vege- 
table matter. Insects formed 63 percent of the food, divided as follows: 
17 percent ants; 24 percent beetles; 21 percent caterpillars; and 1 percent 
miscellaneous, including a few plant lice or aphids. Spiders and myriapods 
formed 4 percent of the food. 
The vegetable matter, 31 percent in all, consisted mostly of wild fruits 
and a few seeds, with about 8 percent of vegetable rubbish. The fruits 
most freely eaten were dogwood, Virginia creeper, June berries, strawberries, 
poke berries and sumac berries, both poisonous and non-poisonous. Eight 
stomachs contained the seeds of sumac and the distribution of these 
poisonous seeds seems to be the only harm done by this bird. 
It cannot be claimed that the consumption of insects confers any great 
benefit upon the agriculturist, since although the percentage of beetles is 
very large, and many of them are boring beetles, they are all species which 
work only in dead wood, thus doing practically no harm. A good many 
caterpillars (21 per cent) are eaten, and about 17 percent of ants, the latter 
item having very little economic significance. 
This bird and the Downy Woodpecker are wrongly called sapsuckers 
in many parts of the state, being confused with the Yellow-bellied Wood- 
pecker or true Sapsucker, which drills the bark of living trees in order to 
eat the sweet inner bark (cambium) and drink the sap. Neither the Hairy 
Woodpecker nor the Downy has this habit, and when seen about fruit or 
shade trees they are never injuring them, and usually it is safe to assume 
