22 THE FOOD OF WOODPECKER^S. 



In an interesting article in the Ank,^ Mr. O. P. Hay says that in cen- 

 tral Indiana during a good beechnut j'ear, froDi the time the nuts began 

 to ripen, the Eedheads were almost constantly on the wing, passing 

 from the beeches to some place of deposit. They hid the nuts in almost 

 every conceivable situation. Many were placed in cavities in partly 

 decayed trees; and the felling of an old beech was certain to provide 

 a feast for the children. Large handfuls were taken from a single knot 

 hole. They were often found under a patch of raised bark, and single 

 nuts were driven into cracks in the bark. Others were thrust into 

 cracks in gateposts; and a favorite place of deposit was behind long 

 slivers on fence posts. In a few cases grains of corn were mixed with 

 beechnuts. Nuts were often driven into cracks in the ends of railroad 

 ties; and the birds were often seen on the roofs of houses pounding 

 nuts into the crevices between the shingles. In several instances the 

 space formed by a board s])ringing away from a fence was nearly filled 

 with nuts, and afterwards i)ieces of bark and wood were brought and 

 driven over the nuts as if to hide them from poachers. 



In summer ])r. Merriam has seen the Kedheads '• make frequent 

 sallies into the air after i)assing insects, which were almost invariably 

 secured." He has also seen them catch grasshoppers on the ground in 

 a pasture. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher saw several Red-headed Woodpeckers feeding on 

 grasshoppers in the streets at Miles City, Mont., in the latter part ot 

 July, 1893. Several of the birds were seen capturing these insects near 

 the hotel throughout the greater part of the forenoon. From a regu- 

 lar perch on top of a telegraph pole or cottonwood they descended on 

 their prey, sometimes eating them on the ground, but more often 

 returned to their former i»ost to dev<mr them. 



The following interesting observation was made by Dr. (1. S. Agers- 

 borg, of Vermillion, S. Dak.:- 



Last spring, in opfiiiiig a good inauy birds of tliis species with tbo object of ascer- 

 taining their principal food, I found in their Mtoniaclis notiiing but young grass- 

 hoppers. One of them, wliich had its headiiuarters near my house, was observed 

 making lre<[uent visits to an old oak post, and on examining it I found a large crack 

 where the woodpecker had inserted about 100 grasshojipfrs of all sizes (for future 

 use, as later observation jiroved). which wire i)ut in witliunt killing them, but they 

 were so firmly wedged in the crack that tiny in vain tried to get free. I told this to 

 a conjdo of farmers, and found that they had also seen the same thing, and showed 

 me posts which were used for the same purpose. Later in the season the wood- 

 pecker whose station was near njy house, commenced to use his stores, and to-day 

 (February 10), there are only a few shriveled-up grasshoppers left. 



Mr. Charles Aldrich, of Webster City, Iowa, states that he saw a Red- 

 beaded Woodpecker catching grasshojjpers on the prairie half a mile 

 from timber. In Nebraska grasshoppers were found in 4 out of 

 stomachs examined by Prof. Samuel Aughey. 



' Auk. Vol. IV. 1887. pp. 194,195. 



••'Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, Vol. Ill, 1H7S. p, ;t7. 



