
422 THE GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 
tion. This soil, on some ridges north of the Spokan where 
there is not much rain, is the richest I saw on the whole 
route, and produces fine crops near Antoine Plant’s prairie. 
To the south it is covered with grass, etc., and where natu- 
rally irrigated by streams, other plants grow luxuriantly. 
There is then nothing unfavorable to trees in the soil, and 
indeed, west of the Caseade Range, almost the whole coun- 
try is basaltic and covered with dense forests. We must 
look therefore to dryness as the cause of their absence, and 
so far the observations of the Medical Department, U. S. A., 
at Fort Walla Walla, Dalles, and Sincoe, show a remarkably 
small amount of moisture. For particulars, however, I must 
refer to the “Report on Statistics,” etc., of Surgeon General 
Lawson, for 1860, prepared by Dr. Richard H. Coolidge, 
U. S. Army. 

THE GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 
BY AUGUSTUS FOWLER. 

Tus is an exceedingly valuable bird, especially if it re- 
sides near lands of a light or sandy soil. Its food is almost 
wholly eomposed of insects, of which ants form the princi- 
pal living of the young fledged birds. These insect pests 
form themselves into colonies, and excavate, a little below 
the surface of the soil, one or more chambers, with galleries 
leading to them, bringing the soil from around the roots of 
the grass, leaving them to a free circulation of air, that soon 
causes them to wither. The Woodpecker sits by the mounds 
of dirt thrown out by the insects, and as one appears creep- 
ing from his den the bird draws him into hís mouth with his 
: tongue, and swallowing him, continues to do so until he has 
destroyed the whole republic. I have examined the birds 
te at such times and have found their stomachs distended to 


their fullest extent; indeed it seemed as if they could not 
. 


