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41 
NOTES ON THE FOOD OF BIRDS 
acquired specific distinctions. It is not possible to suppose 
it'a relic of cretaceous time, when the sea washed over New 
Mexico, and therefore I conclude that in some way it must 
originally have been brought by some bird making along 
fright from the sea, as the Merganser cited above. Just how 
the eggs or young of the crustacean were carried so far we 
cannot tell, but it is possible to imagine how it could have oc¬ 
curred. 
Birds eating; juniper cedar berries 
Mr. Birtwell observed the following birds eating the ber¬ 
ries of cedar ( Muni perns ) trees in the winter of 1899: 
Western Robin (Merida migratoria propinqua ). 
Bluebird (Si a l ia Mex icana). 
Townsend’s Solitaire (Myiadestes Townsendi). 
This winter (1900-1901) Mr. Birtwell says the trees are 
nearly barren, and the robins and bluebirds are absent. 
In Wet Mountain Valley, Colorado, I examined the stom¬ 
ach of a Western Robin, and found it to contain berries of 
Janijferns cornrnunis. 
THE WOODPECKERS 
No birds are more conspicuous about our orchards and by 
our roadsides than the different kinds of woodpeckers. As 
questions are often asked regarding these birds, and farm¬ 
ers are often in doubt as to their utility or harmfulness, I 
have thought it useful to abstract the information which has 
been published regarding their food, adding such few re¬ 
marks as my own observations suggest. 
It may be said at once, that as a whole the woodpeckers 
are extremely useful and are entitled to protection as much 
as any birds that fry. Of all the species reported from New 
Mexico, only two may be considered injurious, and of these 
the red-headed woodpecker is too rare to be of importance, 
leaving only the red-naped sapsucker as a serious cause of 
loss. 
The exact status of the red-naped sapsucker is not per¬ 
fectly established. It is known that it devours quantities of 
