. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. An examination of many stomachs of these two birds shows that from two-thirds to three-fourths of the food consists of insects, chiefly noxious. Wood-boring beetles, both adults and larvae, are conspicu- ous, and with them are associated many caterpillars, mostly species that burrow into trees. N"ext in importance are the ants that live in decaying wood, all of which are sought by woodpeckers and eaten in great quantities. Many ants are particularly harmful to timber, for if they find a small spot of decay in the vacant burrow of some wood- borer,
. [Collected reprints, 1895-1916. Birds. An examination of many stomachs of these two birds shows that from two-thirds to three-fourths of the food consists of insects, chiefly noxious. Wood-boring beetles, both adults and larvae, are conspicu- ous, and with them are associated many caterpillars, mostly species that burrow into trees. N"ext in importance are the ants that live in decaying wood, all of which are sought by woodpeckers and eaten in great quantities. Many ants are particularly harmful to timber, for if they find a small spot of decay in the vacant burrow of some wood- borer, they enlarge the hole, and as their colony is always on the increase, continue to eat away the wood until the whole trunk is honey-. FiG. 2.—Hairy wooilpecker. combed. Moreover, these insects are not accessible to other .birds, and could pursue their career of destruction unmolested were it not that the woodpeckers, with beaks and tongues especially fitted for such work, dig out and devour them. It is thus evident that woodpeckers are great conservators of forests. To them, more than to any other agency, we owe the preservation of timber from hordes of destructive insects. One of the larger woodpeckers familiar to everyone is the flicker, or golden-winged woodpecker {Golaptes auratus) (flg. 3), wliich is generally distributed tt.,.»nn-v.»nt. tim United States from the Atlantic Coast to. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Beal, F. E. L. (Foster Ellenborough Lascelles), 1840-1916. s. l. , s. n.
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