Food of the Woodpeckers of the United States . lication and destructive work ofthe eastern spruce beetle. The work of birds is common in sections where species 1[Dendroctonus brcvicomis], 9 [D. monticolsc], and 10 [D. ponderosiv], and other westernspecies are prevalent. Yet birds evidently render the greatest service where but fewtrees are being killed, since their concentrated work may prevent an abnormal increaseof the beetles; but where many hundreds or thousands of trees are being killed, thelimited number of birds can have little or no effect. Therefore, while the birds areamong the fores
Food of the Woodpeckers of the United States . lication and destructive work ofthe eastern spruce beetle. The work of birds is common in sections where species 1[Dendroctonus brcvicomis], 9 [D. monticolsc], and 10 [D. ponderosiv], and other westernspecies are prevalent. Yet birds evidently render the greatest service where but fewtrees are being killed, since their concentrated work may prevent an abnormal increaseof the beetles; but where many hundreds or thousands of trees are being killed, thelimited number of birds can have little or no effect. Therefore, while the birds areamong the foresters valuable friends, they can not, even with the utmost protection,always be relied upon to protect the forest from its 1 From manuscript of lecture on Forest Insects and Their Destructive Work, by Dr. A. D. Hopkins, incharge of Forest Insect Investigations, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agric. 2 Hopkins, A. D., Bull. 83, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. Agric, Part I, pp. 27-28,1909. 7 8 FOOD OF WOODPECKERS OF UNITED Fig. 1.—Tongues of woodpeckers. From these considerations it is at once apparent how importantmust be any agency that restrains or Umits this great army of treedestroyers. Of all birds that further the welfare of trees, whether of forest or orchard, woodpeckers are themost important. The value of their workin dollars and cents is impossible to cal-culate, but careful study of their food inboth field and laboratory has brought outmany facts of practical importance. Woodpeckers are essentially arboreal intheir habits and obtain the greater part oftheir food from trees. Their physical con-formation eminently adapts them to thismode of Ufe. Their legs are rather shortand stout, and the toes are furnished withstrong, sharp claws. With the exceptionof the genus Picoides, all North Americanwoodpeckers have four toes, two of wliichpoint forward and two backward. Tofurther aid in maintaining themselves onthe trunks of trees, their tails are com-
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