RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 47 



eaten — not many in August, more in July, and. most in September, 

 with a trace in October, while the eastern birds eat the most of these 

 insects in August. The average for the year is 3.20 per cent. No 

 caterpillars or Lepidoptera in any form were found in this bird's 

 stomach. A few spiders amount to less than half of 1 per cent. 



Vegetable food. — Corn was found in one stomach taken in August, 

 and constituted 62 per cent of its contents, but amounted to only 0.46 

 per cent of the food of the year. No other grain was found. Pulp 

 and skins of fruit supposed to be of cultivated varieties were noted in 

 March, the three summer months, and October. There is no cer- 

 tainty that all this was cultivated fruit, and in any event that taken 

 in March could hardly have had any economic value. The aggregate 

 for the year is 10.90 per cent. "Wild fruit was identified in 26 stomachs, 

 all of them taken in July, August, and September. In the former it 

 amounted to over 63 per cent of the food, and the average for the year 

 is 14.65 per cent. Six genera — AmelancJiier, Rex, Crataegus, Cornus, 

 Prunus, and Sambucus — were identified. Mast, or acorns, is the 

 largest item of food. It was found in 20 stomachs and constitutes 

 34.46 per cent of the diet. None was found in July, but in all the 

 other months in which stomachs were taken it amounted to a good 

 percentage. The one stomach taken in December contained 75 per 

 cent of this food. Seeds of poison oak (Rhus diversiloba) and a weed 

 (Amaranthus) make up 2.05 per cent, the remainder of the vegetable 

 food. 



Summary. — It is hardly possible to draw definite conclusions from 

 so little material, especially when distributed over so large a territory. 

 While the bird eats some useful beetles, probably it does no serious 

 harm in this way. It is not likely to damage grain. Evidently, 

 however, it has a pronounced taste for fruit, which at present is grati- 

 fied mostly by wild species; but if the wild fruit-bearing shrubs and 

 trees in its range should ever be replaced by cultivated varieties, it 

 would doubtless turn to cultivated fruits. Further investigation in 

 both field and laboratory are necessary in order to fix definitely the 

 economic status of the Lewis woodpecker. 



RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER. 



( Centum s carolinus.) 



The red-bellied woodpecker ranges over the eastern United States 

 as far west as central Texas and eastern Colorado, and as far north 

 as New York, southern Ontario, southern Michigan, and southern 

 Minnesota. It breeds throughout this range and appears to be 

 irregularly migratory. Very strangely, it often goes north of its 

 breeding range to spend the winter. Four stomachs, collected in 

 November and December, have been received from Canada, and in 

 eight years of residence in central Iowa the writer found the species 



