. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . cted one hundred andeighty-one woodland trees between , and made twenty-six excava-tions for food. Most of these holes exposed gal-leries in the trunks or in high branches wherewood-boring ants were hiding. The openingsthat the bird drilled in piercing one of thesetunnels in a branch some thirty-five feet fromthe ground are shown in Fig. 110. It had un
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . cted one hundred andeighty-one woodland trees between , and made twenty-six excava-tions for food. Most of these holes exposed gal-leries in the trunks or in high branches wherewood-boring ants were hiding. The openingsthat the bird drilled in piercing one of thesetunnels in a branch some thirty-five feet fromthe ground are shown in Fig. 110. It had un-covered dormant black ants, and in each case had pierced theirburrow atthe exact spotwhere they weregathered. Thesewood-boring antsoften gain an entranceat some unprotectedspot on a living tree, andso excavate the wood of,thetrunk that the tree is blowndown by the wind. This Wood-pecker acts as a continual checkon the increase of such ants. The delicacy of that sense of touch oraudition by which the bird was enabled tolocate those motionless insects in their hid-den burrow must ever command our admiration, unendowedas we are with such delicate perceptive powers. Another Downy Woodpecker was seen on March 31 taking. ?i- Fig. 109. Pig. no.—Downy-Woodpecker andhis work. 254 U8EPUL BIRDS. the larvae of boring beetles from beneath the bark of oak bird seemed to know the exact spot at which to drill foreach larva, for it always cut a small hole directly over theinsect. The cut (Fig. Ill) gives a view of the outer surfaceof a section of bark taken from a small oak. From this small piece of bark thebird probably se-cured at least sixof the larvse thatwere found in itsstomach. Theholes at a, b, c,d, e, f, indicatethose from whichthe larvse weretaken. a view ofthe inner surfaceof the same ^liMli of bark, showinghow true was thestroke of thebird, for its beak,piercing from theoutside, went di-rectly to the cen-ter of the burrowwhere the dormant insec
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1913
