DOWNY WOODPECKER. 19 



Weevils amount to a little more than 3 per cent, but appear to be 

 a rather favorite food, as they were found in 107 stomachs, and 4 

 contained 50, 36, 34, and 33 adult individuals, respectively, while in 

 another were 100 in the pupal stage. The engravers (Scolytidae) 

 were identified in 12 stomachs. Other beetles aggregate a little less 

 than 5 per cent of the food, and are all more or less harmful except 

 a few carabids, which amount to 0.80 per cent for the year. 



Ants are eaten by the downy to the extent of 21.36 per cent of its 

 diet, and are taken more regularly than any other element of the 

 food. October, with 9.85 per cent, appears to be the month of 

 minimum consumption, but it is doubtful if this would always hold, 

 as every other month shows at least twice this amount. Hymenop- 

 tera other than ants are eaten very sparingly by the downy. They 

 aggregate only 1.18 per cent, and in June, the month of greatest 

 consumption, amount to only 2.45 per cent, while none were found 

 in the 28 stomachs taken in May. 



Hemiptera, or bugs, were found in 111 stomachs, and constitute 

 8.57 per cent of the food. Scales, or bark lice, were found in 41 

 stomachs and aphids, or plant lice, in 20. A collection of 10 stomachs 

 taken in Maine in March contained from 90 to 100 per cent of scales, 

 the average for 10 stomachs being 93.10 per cent. This -would seem 

 to indicate that where these insects abound, the birds collect and 

 feed upon them almost exclusively. Scales and plant lice together 

 amount to 2.85 per cent of the yearly food. Four genera and two 

 species of scales were identified. Bugs of various other species reach 

 a little less than 6 per cent. 



Caterpillars appear to be a very acceptable food for the downy 

 woodpecker, as they constitute 16.50 per cent of the yearly diet. A 

 large proportion of them are of the wood-boring species, and were 

 evidently dug out of the wood, the same as the beetle larvae. Others 

 are surface feeders taken from leaves and bark. In this connection 

 the greatest interest attaches to the pupae and larvae of the codling 

 moth, generally recognized as the worst pest of the apple orchard. 

 These insects, in one stage or the. other, were identified in 8 stomachs. 

 While this is a small number, the wonder is that the bird gets them at 

 all. The eggs are minute, and as soon as they hatch the larvae bore into 

 the fruit, where they feed in security, though it is claimed by some 

 observers that woodpeckers sometimes dig them out. When full 

 grown, they leave the apple and crawl into some cranny, where they 

 change to pupae. It is in this condition, i. e., as larvae full grown or 

 pupae, that they are secured by the birds. One stomach of the 

 downy contained 18, and another 16 of these grubs. As the adult 

 moth flies by night and lies hidden during the day, it is probably not 

 often taken by birds. In any case, it would be hard to identify in 

 the stomachs. Various insects, including grasshoppers and flies, 



