7 



is possible that this particular species has been accused of more than it deserves." Dr. 

 Fitch states that the natural food-plant of this borer is the white oak, arid that the 

 destruction of the forests caused it to make use of the apple and peach ; this, however, is 

 probably a mistake arising from the similarity of the larvte of different species. 



Man's efforts for the extermination of this borer are greatly aided by the labors of 

 several species of Woodpecker's, which tap over the surface of the trees, and, detecting 

 the presence of the grub by the hollow sound, soon open out his burrow, and draw out the 

 rascal with their long, sharp- pointed tongue. The vulgar name of Sap-suckers applied 

 to these birds should be discountenanced as much as possible, for they are physically 

 incapable of sucking out the sap of trees, the structure of their beak and tongue being 

 especially adapted for the procurement of their natural food, borers and other insects, as 

 may be seen from the accompanying illustration. 

 On this Subject we cannot refrain from quoting 

 the remarks of the celebrated Ornithologist, Wil- 

 son, the truth of which we have frequently veri- 

 fied : — " Of all our Woodpeckers, none rid the 

 apple trees of so many vermin as this (the Downy 

 Woodpecker, Picus pubescens, Linn.), digging off the moss which the negligence of the 

 proprietor had suffered to accumulate, and probing every crevice. In fact, the orchard 

 is his favorite resort in all seasons, and his industry is unequalled and almost incessant. 

 In the fall he is particularly fond of boring the apple trees for insects, digging a circular 

 hole through the bark, just sufficient to admit his bill ; after that a second, third, etc., in 

 pretty regular horizontal circles round the body of the tree ; these parallel circles of holes 

 are often not more than an inch or an inch and a half apart. From nearly the surface 

 of the ground up to the first fork, and sometimes far beyond it, the whole bark of many 

 apple trees is perforated in this way, so as to appear as if made by successive discharges 

 of buck-shot, and our little Woodpecker is the principal perpetrator of this supposed 

 mischief ; I say supposed, for, so far from these perforations of the bark being ruinous, 

 they are not only harmless, but, I have good reason to believe, really beneficial to the 

 health and fertility of the tree. In more than fifty orchards which I have myself care- 

 fully examined, those trees which were marked by the Woodpecker (for some trees they 

 never touch, perhaps because not penetrated by insects) were uniformly the most thriv- 

 ing, and seemingly the most productive. Many of these were upwards of sixty years 

 old, their trunks completely covered with holes, while the branches were broad, luxuriant 

 and loaded with fruit. The most common opinion is, that they bore the tree to suck the 

 sap, and so destroy its vegetation, though pine and other resinous trees, on the juices of 

 which it is not pretended they feed, are often found equally perforated. Besides, the 

 ■early part of spring is the season when the sap flows most abundantly, whereas, it is only 

 during the months of September, October and November that Woodpeckers are seen so 

 indefatigably engaged in orchards, probing every crack and crevice, boring through the 

 bark, and, what is worth remarking, chiefly on the south and southwest sides of the 

 tree, for the eggs and larvae deposited there by the countless swarms of summer insects. 

 Here, then, is a whole species, I may say genus, of birds, which Providence seems to have 

 formed for the protection of our fruit and forest trees from the ravages of vermin, which 

 every day destroy millions of those noxious insects that would otherwise blast the hopes 

 of the husbandman ; and yet they are proscribed by those who ought to have been their 

 protectors, and incitements and rewards are held out for their destruction." In some 

 parts of the Western States, it is said that great damage is done to orchards by the 

 Yellow-bellied Woodpecker (S. varius, Baird), but Dr. Bryant (Pro. Boston Soc. Wat, His,, 

 x, 91) states that he examined the stomachs of six specimens forwarded from Wisconsin, 

 in all of which were found portions of the inner bark of the apple tree, but they also 

 contained a much greater quantity of insects ; " in one bird there were two larvae of a 

 boring beetle, so large that there was not room for both in the stomach at once, and one 

 remained in the lower part of the oesophagus. If these were the larvae of the Saperda, 

 as is probable, they would do more damage than twenty Woodpeckers, and I sincerely 

 hope that these birds are not to be exterminated, unless it is clearly demonstrated that 

 the injury caused by the destruction of the bark is not more than cornj ansated by their 

 destruction of noxious insects." 



