. Annual report . , such as elder-berries, huckleberries, spiceberries, mulberries, hackberries, and, in addition to thetree seeds eaten by the foregoing species, it eats juniper berries (Jtiniperusvirginiana). This last forms a very favorite winter food for many species ofbirds, and in the Middle and Southern States this tree is to be seen growingin rows along every fence and by the roadsides, where the seeds have beendropped by the birds when perched upon the fence. The redheaded woodpecker eats about the same vegetable matter as the preced-ing, but when there is a crop of beechnuts the bird
. Annual report . , such as elder-berries, huckleberries, spiceberries, mulberries, hackberries, and, in addition to thetree seeds eaten by the foregoing species, it eats juniper berries (Jtiniperusvirginiana). This last forms a very favorite winter food for many species ofbirds, and in the Middle and Southern States this tree is to be seen growingin rows along every fence and by the roadsides, where the seeds have beendropped by the birds when perched upon the fence. The redheaded woodpecker eats about the same vegetable matter as the preced-ing, but when there is a crop of beechnuts the bird, instead of migrating, remainsnorth all winter and lives upon them. Dr. C. Hart Merriam has given muchtestimony upon this point. He states that in northern New York, where it is oneof the commonest woodpeckers, it subsists almost exclusively on beechnuts duringthe fall and winter, even picking the green nuts before they are ripe and while thetrees are still covered with leaves. He has shown that these woodpeckers. BLACK-CAPPED CHICK-A-DEE, Upper FigureBROWN CREEPER, Lower Figure BIRDS AS CONSERVATORS OF THE FOREST. 267 invariably remain throughout the winter after good nut yields, but migrate when-ever the nut crop fails.* Mr. O. P. Hay says that in central Indiana, during a good beechnut year,from the time the fruits begin to ripen the redheads were almost constantly onthe wing, passing from the beeches to some place of deposit. They hid the nutsin almost every conceivable situation. Many were placed in cavities in partlydecayed trees; large handfuls were taken from a single knothole; they werefound under a patch of raised bark and single nuts were driven into cracks inthe bark. Others were thrust into the cracks of gateposts, and a favorite placeof deposit was behind long slivers on fenceposts. In several instances the spaceformed by a board springing away from a fence was nearly filled with nuts, andafterward pieces of bark and wood were brought and driven over the nuts as
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectforests, bookyear1902
