38 FOOD OF WOODPECKERS OF UNITED STATES. 



sometimes serious. According to Mr. Witmer Stone; of Germantown, 

 Pa., red-headed woodpeckers have been observed to strip a black- 

 berry patch of all of its fruit. Mr. W. B. McDaniel, of Decatur County, 

 Ga., also reports that the sapsucker and redhead eat grapes and 

 cherries, the loss being sometimes considerable. These examples 

 show the nature of the testimony contributed by eyewitnesses, the 

 accuracy of whose observations there is no reason to doubt. That 

 the stomach examinations do not reveal more damaging evidence 

 against the species is not surprising, for a person seeing a bird eating 

 his choice fruit, or in some other way inflicting damage, is more 

 impressed by it than by the sight of a hundred of the same species 

 quietly pursuing their ordinary vocations. Thus an occasional act 

 is taken as a characteristic habit. , 



In the food investigation of the redhead 443 stomachs were exam- 

 ined. They were collected in 27 States, the District of Columbia, 

 and Canada, and represent every month, though fewer were taken 

 in the colder season, as the bird is inclined to migrate, and remains 

 in the north only when an abundance of food is assured. Of the 

 stomach's contents, animal matter amounts to 33.83 per cent and 

 vegetable to 66.17. 



Animal food. — Beetles amount to about 19 per cent of the food. 

 Of these, 7.34 per cent consist of predaceous ground beetles and 

 tiger beetles, with a few ladybird beetles, all of which are useful. 

 This is the highest percentage of useful insects eaten by any of the 

 woodpeckers. Among the species taken are the fire ground-beetle 

 (Calosoma calidum) and the searcher (C. scrutator), both predaceous 

 species of large size and vile odor. 



Passalus cornutus, one of the staghorns, a large species, was also 

 found, as well as a pair of mandibles belonging to Prionus imbri- 

 cornis, one of the largest species in the United States. The remain- 

 der of the beetle food is made up of various families, of which the 

 May beetles (Scarabseidse) are the most prominent. They amount 

 to 6.31 per cent and are mostly flower-beetles (Euphoria) or closely 

 allied genera. A preference for large beetles is a pronounced char- 

 acteristic of this woodpecker. Weevils were found in 99 stomachs 

 and as many as 12 were counted in one. Such harmful species as 

 Epicserus imbricatus, PJiytonomus punctatus, and Sphenophorus zese 

 were identified in several stomachs. The beetles eaten by the red- 

 head are mostly adults, and such species as creep over the bark of 

 trees or on bare fences or telegraph poles, where the bird loves to 

 forage. Unlike the hairy, downy, and three-toed woodpeckers, the 

 redhead eats very few beetle larvae or other grubs, or ants that live 

 in wood or other places of concealment. Apparently it is not so 

 fond of pecking wood as are the other species, but on the other hand 

 it has been known to peck holes in telegraph and telephone poles 



