278 NESTS AND EOOS OF 



and continued to do so day after day until the female Flicker had laid seventy-one 

 eggs in seventy-three days.* The average size of the eggs is 1.10x.90, and in a large 

 series a great variation in size and shape are noticeable. While it is hardly within 

 the'scope^of the present work I herewith quote entire the "General Remarks" in 

 Mr. F. E. L. Beal's "Food of Woodpeckers,"t which certainly proves their great 

 value to the agriculturalist. He says: "With the possible exception of the crow, 

 no birds are subject to more adverse criticism th^n woodpeckers. Usually no at- 

 tempt is made to discriminate between the numerous species, and little account 



112. Flicker (After Audubon).' 



is taken of the good they do in destroying injurious insects. The name of 'Sapsucker' 

 has been applied to two or three of the smaller kinds, in the belief that they subsist 

 to a great extent upon the juices of trees, obtained from. the small holes they make 

 In the bark. There can be little doubt that one species, the Yellow-bellied Wood- 



• In the last editions of this work Mr. Phillips' record was credited to the Ornitholo- 

 gist and Oologlst (Vol. XI, p. 16). Mention of It first appears In The Young Oologist (Vol. 

 I, p. 26), and It has recently been recorded In The Auk, Vol. IVj p. 346. ■^ 



t Bulletin No. 7, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Division of Ornithology and Mam- 

 malogy. Preliminary report on the Food of Woodpeckers, by P. E. L. Beal, Assistant 

 Ornithologist. The Tongues of Woodpeckers, by F. A. Lucas, Curator, Department Com- 

 parative Anatomy U. S. National Museum? Washington: Government Printing Office, 

 1895. 



