DOWNY WOODPECKER. 21 



HEMIPTERA. 



False chinch bug (Piesma cinerea). Oak scale (Kermes sp.). 



Red bug (Largus succinctus). Olive scale (Saisselia olex). 



White scale (Aspidiotus sp.). Plum and cherry scale (Eulecanium cera- 



sifex). 



ORTHOPTERA. 



Large meadow grasshopper (Orchelimum glaberrimum) . 



NEUROPTERA. 



Dobson (Corydalis cornuta). 



Vegetable food. — Fruit was eaten to the extent of 5.85 per cent of 

 the whole food. Most of it is of useless wild varieties. Ten species 

 were identified by their seeds, of which the Rubus fruits, i. e., rasp- 

 berries or blackberries, might have been cultivated, but probably 

 were not. They were found in only 1 stomach. A number of 

 stomachs contained fruit pulp, which could not be further identified 

 and may have been cultivated. Corn was found in 20 stomachs, 

 most of it taken in the winter and early spring months, so that it 

 was waste grain, except that found in 2 stomachs in August and 

 September, which was probably in the milk. A few other stomachs 

 held what was thought to be grain of some kind, but was too finely 

 ground for further identification. Grain of all kinds aggregates 

 1.66 per cent. 



The poison Rhuses (Rhus radicans, R. vernix, R. diversiloba, and 

 R. toxicodendron) seem to afford a favorite winter food for many 

 birds. While the seeds themselves are so thoroughly protected by 

 a hard, horny coating that they are seldom broken in the stomachs, 

 they are overlaid by a white waxy pulp, which easily comes off, and 

 is probably very nutritious. These seeds were found in 86 stomachs 

 of the downy woodpecker, and they amount to 5.93 per cent of the 

 food. Unfortunately they germinate freely after they have been 

 voided, and probably these birds are the most efficient agents in 

 distributing these noxious plants. Mast, i. e., acorns, beechnuts, 

 chestnuts, hazelnuts, chinquapins, with a few other smaller seeds, 

 amounts to 8.20 per cent of the food. This food is eaten in every 

 month — the most in January and the least in July. A little cambium 

 and some rubbish make up the remainder of the vegetable food, 

 2.31 per cent. The charge sometimes made that the downy injures 

 trees by eating the inner bark is disproved. It eats cambium rarely 

 and in small quantities. 



The following seeds and fruits were found in the downy's food: 



Bayberry (Myrica carolinensis) . Sorrel (Rumex sp.). 



Hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana). Smartweed (Polygonum sp.). 



Beech (Fagus americanus). Pokeweed (Phytolacca decandra). 



Oak (Quercus sp.). Blackberry or raspberry (Rubus sp.). 



