. Some common birds in their relation to agriculture. Birds; wild birds. 8 the Rocky Mountains. It is there replaced by the red-shafted flicker (C. cafer), which extends westward to the Pacific. The two species are as nearly Identical in food habits as their environment will allow. The flickers, while genuine woodpeckers, differ somewhat in habits from the rest of the family, and are frequently seen upon the ground searching for food. Like the downy and hairy woodpeckers, they eat wood-boring grubs and amts, but the number of ants eaten is much greater. Two of the flickers' stomachs examined w
. Some common birds in their relation to agriculture. Birds; wild birds. 8 the Rocky Mountains. It is there replaced by the red-shafted flicker (C. cafer), which extends westward to the Pacific. The two species are as nearly Identical in food habits as their environment will allow. The flickers, while genuine woodpeckers, differ somewhat in habits from the rest of the family, and are frequently seen upon the ground searching for food. Like the downy and hairy woodpeckers, they eat wood-boring grubs and amts, but the number of ants eaten is much greater. Two of the flickers' stomachs examined were completely filled with ants, each stomach containing more than 3,01)0 individuals. These ants belonged to species which live in the ground, and it is these insects for which the flicker is searching when running about in the grass, although some grasshoppers are also Fig. 3.—Flicker. The red-headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erytlirocephalus) (fig. 4) is well known cast of the Rocky Mountains, but is rather rare in New England. * Unlike some of the other species, it prefers fence posts and telegraph poles to trees as a foraging ground. Its food therefore naturally dif- fers from that of the preceding species, and consists largely of adult beetles and wasps, which it frequently captures on the wing, after the fashion of flycatchers. Grasshoppers also form an important part of the food. The redhead has a peculiar habit of selecting very large beetles, as shown by the presence of fragments of several of the largest species in the stomachs. Among the beetles were quite a number of predaceous ground beetles, and unfortunately some tiger beetles, which are useful insects. The redhead has been licensed of robbing the nests. 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 Ellenboroug
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1897
