44 FOOD OF WOODPECKERS OF UNITED STATES. 



were contained in stomachs taken in August, when they aggregate 

 37.33 per cent. A few bugs, flies, and grasshoppers, with some 

 fragments of caterpillars, make up the remainder of the animal 

 food — 4.49 per cent. One stomach contained a few black olive 

 scales. 



Vegetable food. — Grain, fruit, and mast are the three items that form 

 nearly all the vegetable food. One stomach taken in January -con- 

 tained nothing but corn, and in another collected in December were 

 a few corn hulls. This is the whole of the grain record, and is of no 

 economic interest. The average for the year but slightly exceeds 1 

 per cent. Fruit amounts to a little less than 23 per cent, and was 

 found in nearly every month in which stomachs were taken. Most 

 of it was evidently the pulp of the larger cultivated varieties, though 

 that found in stomachs collected in the winter months could have no 

 economic value. Seeds of the elderberry (Sambucus) were found in 

 two stomachs and were the only fruit positively identified. The 

 largest amounts were eaten in August and September, when they 

 reached 59.34 and 54 per cent, respectively. While this is rather a 

 high percentage of fruit eaten, complaints against the bird are not 

 general, and the damage done to fruit over most of its range is 

 probably comparatively small. 



The principal item of the food of the California woodpecker is 

 acorns. This amounts to 53.30 per cent of the food of the year, 

 and was found in 58 stomachs, or 69 per cent of the whole, and 23 

 contained nothing else. It was eaten in every month when stomachs 

 were taken except August, but as only 3 were collected in that 

 month the record is not reliable. In November, when 12 stomachs 

 were taken, acorns amounted to 93.58 per cent of the average con- 

 tents. In June, when fruit and insects are abundant, it averaged 

 in 12 stomachs 79.25 per cent. In July the least was eaten — 29.47 

 per cent. This was made up by the animal food, which attained the 

 highest percentage in that month. The question has been raised 

 whether the bird stores the acorn for the sake of its meat or for the 

 grubs which may frequently develop therein. The examination of 

 the stomach contents removes all doubt, for while acorns are eaten 

 freely larvae are almost entirely wanting. 



In certain localities where almonds are largely cultivated and this 

 bird is abundant it exhibits a strong liking for these nuts. Under these 

 conditions it is sometimes necessary to shoot every woodpecker that 

 appears in the orchard in order to save even a reasonable part of 

 the crop. Such conditions are likely to occur wherever large groves 

 of oaks occur in close proximity to the orchards and this bird is 

 correspondingly numerous. While the necessity for applying so 

 drastic a remedy is unfortunate, it can be said that it is not so deplor- 

 able as it would be in the case of some other more conspicuously 

 useful species. 



