ECONOMIC VALUE OF BIRDS TO THE STATE. 



( 



33 



common Woodpecker (see plate ), is also the most beneficial. Professor Beal* 

 states that 75 per cent of its food consists of insects, including ants, beetles, bugs, 

 flies, caterpillars, and grasshoppers. 



King found in the stomachs of this species wood-boring grubs, larvae, caterpillars, 

 ants, beetles, and other insects. The species also feeds to a small extent on wild 

 • fruits. 



Hairy Woodpecker {Dryobatcs villosus). — This, species resembles the preceding 

 in color, but is longer. According to Beal 68 per cent of its food is animal matter 

 21 per cent of the whole food being caterpillars. The same writer states that F. M. 

 Webster saw this species peck a hole in the cocoon of a cecropia moth and devour 

 its contents; only 2 out of 20 cocoons examined being uninjured. 



King found 11 larvae of wood-boring beetles and 12 geometers in the stomach of 

 one Hairy Woodpecker; another contained 13 larvae of long-horned beetles and 4 

 cockroach ootheca. 



Flicker : Clape : High-hole: Golden- Winged Woodpecker (Colaptes aur.atus). — 

 In some States this Woodpecker is ranked as a game bird and its killing is permitted 

 at certain seasons. Study of the bird's food, however, shows that it should at all 

 times be protected. While feeding on wild fruits, the bird's chief economic value is 

 derived from its destruction of ants which, Professor Beal states, constitute 43 per 

 cent of its whole food. In each of two stomachs of the Flicker examined by this 

 investigator were found over 3,000 ants; Bruner states that the stomach of a 

 Flicker killed near Lincoln, Nebraska, contained nearly 1,000 Chinch bugs. 



Pileated Woodpecker: Logcock {Ceophlceus pileatus). — This fine large species 

 is now confined to the most heavily forested portions of the State. The trunk of a 

 white pine, fallen but as yet externally sound, which I examined in Vermont, showed 

 twelve cavities made by this bird in its search for wood-boring larvae. The largest 

 was twelve inches long, four inches wide, and eight inches deep. The heart of the 

 tree proved to be riddled by the passages of the borers which the Woodpecker, 

 when alighting on the tree, had doubtless heard at work. 



While most of the wood-borers eaten by this species are obtained from dead 

 trees, the borers begin their work in living trees and any agent which tends to hold 

 them in check is therefore of value to our forests. 



Red-Headed Woodpecker {Melanerpes erythrocephalus). — "The Red-Headed 

 Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) is well known east of the Rocky 

 Mountains, but is rather rare in New England. Unlike some other species, it pre- 



* Preliminary Report on the Food of Woodpeckers. Bull. No. 7, Biological Survey, U. S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture. 



