26 



THE FOOD OF WOODPECKERS. 



26 percent and vegetable matter 74 percent. A small quantity of 

 gravel was found in 7 stomachs, but was not reckoned as food. Ants 

 were found in 14 stomachs, and amounted to 11 percent of the whole 

 food. Adult beetles stand next m importance, aggregating 7 percent 

 of all food, while larval beetles only reach 3 percent. Caterpillars had 

 been taken by only 2 birds, but they had eaten so manj' that they 

 amounted to 4 percent of the whole food. The remaining animal food 

 is made up of small quantitiesof bugs {Hemiptera), crickets ( Orthoptera), 

 and spiders, with a few bones of a small tree frog found in 1 stomach 

 taken in Florida. 



Dr. B. H. Warren states that the stomachs of 3 Eed-bellied Wood- 

 peckers captured in winter in Chester and Delaware counties, Pa., con- 

 tained black beetles, larvie, fragments of acorns, and a few seeds of 

 wild grapes. The stomachs of 8 adults from the St. Johns River, 

 Florida, contained red seeds of 2 species of palmetto, but no insects. 

 Two additional stomachs from the same locality contained palmetto 

 berries, fragments of crickets [Nemohius and Oracharis saltator), a pal- 

 metto ant [Camponotus escuriens), and numerous joints of a myriapod, 

 X)robably Jidus.^ 



Dr. Townend Glover found in the stomach of a l\ed-bellied Wood- 

 pecker killed in December " pieces of acorns, seeds, and gravel, but no 

 insects. Another, shot in December, contained wing-cases of Buprcstis, 

 and a species of wasp or Polistcs, acorns, seeds, and no bark. A third, 

 shot in May, was filled with seeds, pieces of bark, and insects, among 

 which was an entire Laclniosteinia, or May bug."''^ 



Tlie vegetable food of the Kedbellied Woodpecker contained in the 

 22 stomachs examined by the <livisiou consiste«l of the following seeds 

 and fruits: 



(Jrain: 



Cora. 

 Fruit: 



Mulberries (.Von/s rubra). 



Wild grajtcs ( litis tordifolia). 



Virginia creeper ( I'arthenocinsus quin- 

 ([Hefolia). 



Eldcrlierries (Sambucua canadensis). 



Kougb-leaved cornel {Cornita asperi- 

 foUn). 



Fruit— Continued. 



Saw palmetto (Sabal aerrulala). 

 Holly (//(J- opaca). 

 Wildsarsaparilla {Aralia niidicaiilia). 

 Bayberries (Mijrica cerij'era). 

 Pine {I'iniis echinata). 

 Poison ivy [lihua radicana). 

 Ragweed {Ambrosia sp.). 



Corn was found in only 2 stomachs. The other items were wrll dis- 

 tributed, and none of them api)ear to be specially preferred, uidess it 

 maybe the poison ivy, which was found in 6 stomachs, and amounted to 

 nearly 12 per cent of the whole food. Although 8 of the 22 birds were 

 coUecte*! in Florida, no trace of the pulp of oranges was discovered, but 

 that oranges are eateu by them is shown by the following interesting 

 notes. 



Birds of Pennsylvania I'd ed.. 1890. pp. 174. 1' 

 ' U. S. AgriC. Kept, for Iblw, 186G, p. 38. 



