44 
NOTES ON THE FOOD OF BIRDS 
Batchelder’s Woodpecker 
This bird was separated from Gairdner's Woodpecker as 
a distinct sub-species (Dnyabates pubescens orcecus*) in 1889, 
part of the series of specimens studied coming from Las \ e- 
gas Hot Springs, New Mexico. Its habits, food, etc., are 
said to be the same as those of the downy woodpecker. 
Capt. Bendire writes thus of the last-mentioned bird: “Un¬ 
fortunately, it is also considered a sapsucker, and many of 
these exceedingly useful little woodpeckers are killed yearly 
through lamentable ignorance, under the supposition that 
they injure the fruit trees by boring in the bark, while in fact 
they render the horticulturist inestimable service by ridding 
his orchard of innumerable insects, their eggs and larvae, 
and few of our native birds deserve our good-will more than 
the little downy woodpecker.” 
Mr. F. E. L. Beal says that of seven common woodpeckers 
whose food he studied, the downy woodpecker is the most 
beneficial. “Three-fourths of its food consists of insects, 
and few of these are useful kinds. Of grain, it eats practi¬ 
cally none. The greatest sin wo can lay at its door is the 
dissemination of poison ivy. ” In some cases the bird resorts 
to the ground and eats the eggs of grasshoppers. 
Baird’s Woodpecker 
This belongs to the same genus as the last two, its scien 
title name being Dryobates scalaris bai/rdi. It is especially a 
bird of the mesquite region,'and in Arizona it nests in the 
mesquite trees, which are of a different species (Prosopis 
velutina , Wooton) from the mesquite bush of New Mexico^ 
although the two are closely allied. Captain Bendire says 
that this woodpecker is very fond of the ripe fruit of the 
giant cactus. 
Arizona Woodpecker 
The Arizona woodpecker, Dryobates arizonce , has been 
found by Dr. Mearns in the extreme southwestern corner of 
*The scientific name has since been changed to Dryobates pubescens 
homo r us. 
