280 ' NESTS AND EGGS OP 



of the injury done by destroying cambium must depend on the quantity taken from 

 individual trees. It is well known that woodpeckers sometimes do serious harm 

 by removing the outer bark from, large areas on the trunks of fruit trees. The rings 

 of punctures often seen around the trunks of apple trees are certainly the work 

 of the Sapsucker, though sometimes attributed to the Downy and Hairy Woodpeck- 

 ers. But the bird is not sufficiently numerous in most parts of the country to do 

 much damage. It is a difficult task to summarize the results of the investigations 

 herein detailed, more especially if an attempt is made to decide as to the compara- 

 tive merits or demerits of each particular species. The stomach examinations do 

 not always corroborate the testimony received from observers, and many no doubt 

 will be inclined to think they have seen more harm done by some members of this 

 family of birds than is shown by the data here published. If birds are seen feeding 

 repeatedly on a certain kind of food the inference is that they are particularly fond 

 of it, but the truth may be that they are eating it because they can find nothing they 

 like better, a!nd that a collection of their stomachs from many localities would show- 

 only a small percentage of this particular food. In reviewing the results of these 

 investigations and comparing one species with another, without losing sight of the 

 fact that comparative good is not necessarily positive good, it appears that of 7 

 species considered the Downy Woodpecker is the most beneficial. This is due in 

 part to the great number of insects it eats and in part to the nature of its vegetable 

 food, which is of little value to man. Three-fourths of its food consists of insects, 

 and few of these are useful kinds. Of grain, it eats practically none. The greatest 

 sin we can lay at its door is the dissemination of poison ivy. The Hairy Woodpecker 

 probably ranks next to the Downy in point of usefulness. It eats fewer ants, but a 

 relatively larger percentage of beetles and caterpillars. Its grain-eating record is 

 trifling; 2 stomachs taken in September and October contained corn. For fruit, it 

 seeks the forests and swamps, where it finds wild cherries, grapes, and the berries of • 

 dogwood and Virginia creeper. It eats fewer seeds of the poison ivy and poison 

 sumac than the Downy. The Flicker eats a smaller percentage of insects than either 

 the Downy or the Hairy Woodpecker, but if eating ants is to be considered a virtue, 

 as we have endeavored to show, then surely this bird must be exalted, for three- 

 fourths of all the insects it eats, comprising nearly half of its food, are ants. It is 

 accused of eating com; how little its stomach yields is shown on another page. 

 Fruit constitutes about one-fourth of its whole fare, but the bird depends on nature 

 and not on man to furnish the supply. Judged by the results of the stomach ex- 

 aminations of the Downy and Hairy Woodpecker and Flicker it would be hard to find 

 three other species of our common birds with fewer harmful qualities. Not one of 

 the trio shows a questionable trait, and they should be protected and encouraged in 

 every possible way. Fortunately, only one, the Flicker, is liable to destruction, and 

 for this bird each farmer and landowner should pass a protective law of his own. 

 The Redhead makes the best showing of the seven species in the kinds of insects 

 eaten. It consumes fewer ants and more beetles than any of the others, in this re- 

 spect standing at the head, and it has a pronounced taste for beetles of very large 

 size. Unfortunately, however, its fondness for predaceous beetles must be reck- 

 oned against it. It also leads in the consumption of grasshoppers; these and beetles 

 together forming 36 per cent, of its whole food. The stomachs yielded enough corn 

 to show that it has a taste for that grain, though not enough to indicate that any 

 material damage is done. It eats largely of wild fruit, and also partakes rather freely 

 of cultivated varieties, showing some preference for the larger ones, such as apples. 

 In certain localities, particularly in winter, it feeds extensively on beechnuts, No 



