16 FOOD OF WOODPECKERS OF UNITED STATES. 



DIPTERA. 



Bluebottle fly (Phormia sp.). 



HEMIPTERA. 



Plum and cherry scale (Eulecanium cera- Harvest fly (Tibicen rimosa). 



si/ex) . 



Vegetable food. — The vegetable food of the hairy woodpecker may 

 be considered under four heads: Fruit, grain, seeds, and miscellane- 

 ous vegetable substances. Fruit amounts to 5.22 per cent of the food, 

 and was contained in 54 stomachs, of which 13 held what was diag- 

 nosed as domestic varieties, and 41 contained wild species. Eubus 

 seeds (blackberries or raspberries) were identified in 4 stomachs, and 

 were counted as domestic fruit, but it is perhaps more probable that 

 they were wild. Strawberry seeds (occurring in 1 stomach) and 

 pulp (thought to be apple) were the only other cultivated varieties 

 that could be distinguished with a reasonable degree of certainty. 

 Evidently the hairy woodpecker does no damage by preying upon 

 orchard or garden products. Of wild fruit 18 species were identified. 

 It constitutes the great bulk of the fruit eaten, and is nearly all of 

 varieties not useful to man. 



Corn was the only grain discovered in the food. It was found in 

 10 stomachs, and amounted to 1.37 per cent. In 2 stomachs taken 

 in August and September it was still in the milk, but all the rest was 

 eaten in winter, so it must have been waste. Seeds of various plants 

 had been eaten by 18 birds, but most of them were of little economic 

 value. The seed of poison ivy and poison sumac (Rhus radicans and 

 R. vernix) were found in 17 stomachs, and as they usually pass 

 through the alimentary canal uninjured, the birds do some harm by 

 scattering the seeds of these noxious plants. The total percentage 

 of seeds of all kinds is 4.50. 



Cambium, or the inner bark of trees, was identified in 23 stomachs. 

 Evidently the hairy does but little damage by denuding trees of their 

 bark. Mast, made up of acorns, hazelnuts, and beechnuts, was found 

 in 50 stomachs. It was mostly taken in the fall and winter months, 

 and appears to be quite a favorite food during the cooler part of the 

 year. Dr. Merriam says that in northern New York the hairy wood- 

 pecker, like the other woodpeckers of the Adirondack region, feeds 

 largely on beechnuts. In late fall, winter, and early spring following 

 good yields of beechnuts, the nuts form the principal food of the 

 woodpeckers. When grubs and ants are taken from decayed or de- 

 caying trees, bits of rotten wood, dead leaves, and other rubbish are 

 eaten with them. Such material was found in 72 stomachs, though 

 in most cases the percentage was small. Cambium, mast, and rub- 

 bish together constitute a little less than 11 per cent of the food. 



