WOODPECKER FAMILY. 15 



amount of insect food in the stomachs of the six species discussed in 

 the following pages is 62 percent of the whole contents. 



It is unfortunate that the most valuable species of our woodpeckers 

 are not abundant. In many parts of the country the downy and hairy 

 woodpeckers are quite rare and, what is worse, appear to be dimin- 

 ishing in numbers. As they are among the most valuable of our 

 species, it is worth while to inquire into the cause of their scarcity 

 and if possible to devise efficient remedies. In most sections these 

 birds can obtain an abundance of food, and as they are not perse- 

 cuted, so far as known, the most probable cause for their scarcity 

 would appear to be the lack of suitable nesting sites. This is es- 

 pecially true in the northeastern part of the United States where the 

 war waged upon the gipsy and brown-tail moths has led to the trim- 

 ming of all dead trunks and limbs from forests and orchardsj so that 

 the woodpeckers, which as a rule dig new nesting holes every year, are 

 left with no places in which to nest. In Germany, after much experi- 

 mentation, it has been found possible to construct nesting boxes which 

 the European woodpeckers freely use. There can be no reasonable 

 doubt that a similar result can be attained in tins country. Pending 

 experiments and as a step in the right direction, it would be well for 

 orchardists to leave the stubs of dead limbs on orchard trees as sites 

 for the nests of woodpeckers. While the woodpecker may use the 

 nest it excavates only one season, the hole will be available for blue- 

 birds, wrens, chickadees, and nuthatches in succeeding years. The 

 experiment of inducing our woodpeckers, especially the downy and 

 hairy, to build in artificially constructed nesting boxes is well worth 

 patient and persistent experiment. 



HAIRY WOODPECKER. 



(Dryobates villosus harrisi and hyloscopus.) 



Two subspecies of the hairy woodpecker occur in California, and 

 between them they occupy nearly the whole State at some time of the 

 year. Their favorite haunts are open groves and orchards, and as for- 

 ests disappear and fruit trees increase in number, they will probably 

 more and more inhabit orchards. That the hairy woodpecker is far 

 from abundant at present is unfortunate, for its food habits make it of 

 great economic importance. Only 27 stomachs have been examined, 

 but the dates of collection are well distributed. Seven is the greatest 

 number taken in any one month (September), and none at all were 

 obtained in March, May, August, and October. While this number 

 is sufficient to afford a general idea of the kind of food the bird prefers, 

 it does not furnish reliable data as to the relative proportions of the 

 different constituents. 



