10 THE FOOD OF WOODPECKERS. 



fondness for predaceous beetles must be reckoned against it. It also 

 leads in tlie consumption of grasshoppers ; these and beetles together 

 forming 36 percent of its vrhole 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 charge 

 can be brought against it on the score of injuring trees by pecking. 



The Eed-bellied Woodpecker is more of a vegetarian than any of 

 the others. In certain localities in Florida it does some damage to 

 oranges, but the habit is not general. On the other hand, it eats quan- 

 tities of ants and beetles. 



The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker seems to show only one question- 

 able trait, that of a fondness for the sap and inner bark of trees. 

 Both field observations and the contents of the stomachs prove this 

 charge against it, but it is not probable that forest trees are exten- 

 sively injured, or that they ever will be, for aside from the fact that 

 the bark of many trees would be unpalatable an immense number of 

 birds would be required to do serious damage. But with fruit trees 

 the case is ditl'erent. Their number is limited, and there are no super- 

 fluous ones as in the forest. In localities where the bird is abundant 

 considerable harm may be done to apple trees, which appear to be 

 pleasing to its taste. 



The Pileate<l Woodpecker is more exclusively a forest bird than any 

 of the others, and its food consists of such elements as the w(H)ds 

 aftbrd, particularly the larvjii of wood-boring beetles, and wild fruits. 

 The species is enqthatically a conservator of tlie forests. 



In describing the stomach contents of the different woodpeckers a 

 quantity of material is classed under the term ' rubbish.' The great 

 bulk <»f this stuff is rotten wood and bark, picked up in digging for 

 insects in decayed timber, and apparently swallowed accidentally with 

 the food. If the G woodpeckers which had eaten rotten wood are com- 

 pared with respect to the quantity of this material contained in the 

 stomachs it. is found that the .Hairy Woodpecker stands at the head 

 with 8 percent, the Downy next with 5, the Flicker with 3, the Ji'edhead 

 and Yellow-bellied with 1 percent each, and the Pileated with only a 

 trace. From this it api)ears that the Hairy Woodpecker is preeminently 

 a Koodpeclar, while the Bedhead and Yellow-belly do much less of this 

 kind of work. The difference in habit is obvious to the most casual 

 observer. The Bedhead is ordinarily seen ui)on a fence post or tele- 

 graph i)ole hunting for insects that alight on these exposed surfaces, 

 and watching for others that fly near enough to be captured in mid-air. 

 Unlike other woodpeckers, he is seldom seen digging at a rotten branch 

 except in spring, when he prepares a home for the family he intends 

 to rear. The Yellow-bellied, as will be shown jujesently, does much 

 wood {or bsirk'l peekiuir. but of another kind. 



