246 REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



The Redheaded Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephahis). 



The redhead is a common bird in suitable localities throughout the United 

 States east of the Rocky Mountains, but is only casual in New England. It is not 

 so much of a forest lover as some of the other woodpeckers, preferring to keep on 

 the outskirts rather than in the depths of the woodlands. It is a familiar object 

 on telegraph posts and dead trees, and seems to prefer these apparently rather 

 barren hunting grounds to more fruitful fields. The character of its food, however, 

 shows that it is largely taken upon these bare surfaces, or, as has been observed, 

 caught in mid air. 



Examination of many stomachs of the redhead shows that its food is composed 

 of about 52 per cent of animal to 48 per cent of vegetable matter. While all of the 

 more common orders of insects are eaten to some extent, beetles are evidently 

 the favorite food, as they constitute nearly one-third of the whole. Unlike the 

 downy, hairy, and three-toed woodpeckers, however, the redhead takes most of 

 its beetles in the adult stage. Many of them belong to the May beetle family 

 (Scarabaeidae), with representatives of several others. It seems to be a prominent 

 characteristic of this bird to prefer large insects for its prey, such as the dor-bug 

 (Lachnosterna), the June bug {Allorhina nitida), and the fire ground beetle (Calo- 

 soma calidum), a predaceous beetle of large size and vile odor. Passalns cornntus, 

 a large species that lives in rotten wood, was also found in some of the stomachs, 

 and a pair of mandibles belonging to Prionus brevicornis, one of the largest beetles 

 in the northern United States. This last is a very destructive forest insect, as its 

 larvae lives in the trunks and roots of certain trees, and being of enormous size 

 its burrows are a great damage to the timber. Weevils were found in many 

 stomachs, and as many as ten were contained in one. The rest of the food 

 consists of ants, which constitute eleven per cent of the food, with a few bugs, 

 grasshoppers, caterpillars, etc. The redhead eats fewer ants than any of the 

 foregoing species, as these insects are not so often found on the bare poles which 

 the bird so persistently haunts. 



The Flicker (Colaptes auratus). 



Three species of the genus Colaptes, with several subspecies, are found within 

 the limits of the United States. Their differences in form, size and plumage 

 are not remarkable, and their variations in diet are still less noticeable — in fact, 

 whatever may be said of the food of one may be said of all, making due allowance 

 for differences in the available food supply of various localities. 



