The farmer and mechanic., 1915-10-26


matter TO $500 of vegeta BILE. The |
former consists Of insects and spiders, |
with a few tree frogs and lizards |
while the latter may be considered as |
made up Of grain, fruit and mast. |
Among the animal food few wood |
borers were found, and caterpillars |
averaged 2SS per cent of the diet. |
Corn was the only grain found. Poison
ivy seeds amount to 2.15 per cent Of
the diet and are eaten in every month |
from August to February. inclusive.
This bird shows a decided taste for
fruit and may do injury, as it has in
the Florida orange groves. The con-
tents Of the stomachs, however, show
that the wild fruits are preferred.
and probably only when these have
been replaced by cultivated varieties
is any mischief done.
Three-toed WoOdpeckerS are found
| to be very beneficial. These are resi-
dents of practically all parts Of the
United States. The great bulk Of the
food Of these birds consists of the lar
vac Of wood boring beetles Or moths.
| These are eaten with great regular
ity throughout the year, but somewhat
more in the colder months than in
| summer The total of wood-boring
| larvae, including both caterpillars and
beetles, found in the food Of these
| BIRDS amounts to 1913 per cent.
Their vegetable food may be included
! in four items: Fruit, mast, cambium
| and rubbish. The foregoing shows
that these woodpeckers act as ''con-
servators of the forest in the skrong-
est sense, as three fourths of their
food consists Of the direct enemies
of forest trees. It is unfortunate that
in most places three-toed woodpeck-
ers are not very numerous, and for
this reason they should be protected
and encouraged in every way possible
Of the several species Of wood
peckers in the United States only
three may be properly classed as sap
suckers. These birds have short
bushy tongues, not adapted to the
capture Of insects, while the other
ed tips which can be extended to
spear luckless borers or other insects
whose burrows in the wood have been
reached by their powerful beaks
The sapsuckers practically do not feed
on wood borers or other forest
enemies Their chief insect food is
ants. About Is per cent of their diet
consists of cambium and the inner
bark of trees, and they drink a great
deal of sap.
The parts of the tree injured by
sapsuckers are those that carry the
rich sap which nourishes the growing
wood and bark. 1t is evident, there
fore, that the birds attack on trees
;, may have serious results When {
! small proportion Of the bark an6
/. cambium are removed. the vitality o.
l the tree may only be lowered, o.
branches here and there may b.
killed. When the injury is more eX
I | tensive, as it often is, the tree ma!
! be completely girdled, and of cours'
e dies Holes made by sapsuckers g
5 clear through the bark and often int,
the yNnnd Sanc11cl<er ric1xiDl 6iSfi O.
= ures ornamental trees, giving rise t.
Il pitch streams, gummy excrescence
5 and deformities of the trunks. Small
Il fruit trees, especially apple, are ofte1
killed, and whole orchards have bee1
q destroyed by these birds. Sapsuck
u ers are known to attack no fewe
s than 25S kinds of trees shrubs, an
+ vines in the United States, e3 of whic1
y are often seriously injured and 3
l. have been killed.
81 Hickory trees are favorites of tn
sapSucker, and it is estimated tha
IS the annual loss on hickory alone fror
II this cause is about 100000. It ha
e. been found that sapsucker work un
fits for use such important ornaments
woods as mahogany, black walnu
white oak, yellow poplar, chestnu
cherry, sweet gum and hard maple
that it seriously blemishes wood
priced for peculiar qualities, such a
ash, Eastwood, cypress, red cedal
holly, buckeye and dogwood, and tina
it sometimes destroys the value
wood even for heavy construction, q
southern Eastwood, spruce and wes
ern hemlock It is evident that saI
suckers do not deserve protection.
The yellow-bellied sapsucker is til
only woodpecker having the front
the head-from bill to crown-red j
combination with a black patch Q
ho CT The o6
sucker is the only woodpecker tn;
has the whole head and throat re
Great care should be taken to di
tinguish sapsuckers from woot
peckers.
~s