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Show INVESTIGATING THE WOODPECKER 1 4.4,4,4,4,H.4.4,4. ..... fT-pt HE California woodpook- rhrf or 13 dl8lrlbl"e(l ,' tlirouKlunit most of the r'? ij onk-covorcd mountKn Nk H,ul fHilll region of t4"v California, northern ( J I Lower California and 7 western Oregon. it t lives generally wherever large oaka aro abundant, and from these it gets much of Its living. A peculiar habit has attracted much attention among nonscientittc observers, that of drilling drill-ing holes In tree trunks or largo branches. In each of which is placed an acorn or other nut. -'here fh!, bird is abundant all dead trunks or branches of any size, and many live ones, are punctured with these holes, frequently less than an Inch apart. Where trees in the proper condition are not numerous enough It attacks buildings and drills holes in the cornices cor-nices of houses or spires of churches; also it bores into telephone and telegraph tele-graph poles and fence posts. For the laboratory investigation of the food of the California woodpeck- Yeilow-Bellied Sapsucker. er, S4 stomachs were available. The food was found to consist of 29.59 per cent of animal matter, to 77.41 per cent of vegetable. Their principal item of food is acorns. This amounts to 53.30 per cent of the yearly diet and was found In 58 stomachs. Whore almonds are largely cultivated and this bird is abundant it exhibits a strong liking tor this nut and stores it instead of acorns. In some cases it has been found necessary to shoot the birds whenever they entered the orchard in order to save the crop. The foregoing shows that the food of the California woodpecker is not of much economic importance. It does not prey extensively upon the products prod-ucts of industry, except occasionally upon almonds, and its insect diet con tains practically no useful species. Its worst sin is its propensity to puncture the cornices and casings of buildings and telegraph and telephone poles in order to store its nuts for winter use. This is a serious injury and will justify justi-fy the destruction of the bird if no other remedy can be devised. The red-bellied woodpecker ranges over the United States as far west as central Texas and eastern Colorado, and as far north as New York, Michigan Mich-igan and southern Minnesota. It is rather more of a forest bird than some of the other woodpeckers, but it is frequently fre-quently seen in thinly timbered country. coun-try. In Florida the bird has been observed ob-served to eat oranges to an injurious extent. It attacks over-ripe fruit and picks holes in it and sometimes completely com-pletely devours it. The fruit selected is that which is dead ripe, so it is not often that the damage "from, this source is serious. The bird also sometimes some-times attacks the trunks of orange trees, as well as others, and does some harm. Kor investigation of the food of the red-bellied woodpecker 271 stomachs were available. The food was found w 'A zip w 4 California Woodp cker. to contain 30.94 per cent of animal matter to 69.06 of vegetable. The former consists of insects and spiders, with a few tree frogs and lizards, while the latter may be considered a- Among the annual food a few wood borers were found, and caterpUlars ' veragod 2.88 ,:er cent o? the "fet vvrnRr? thr8on ra.n found. Po on y seeds form a large par. of ,nP on a! eiUen in ev Thu i l Fe"rua'-y inclusive, frn ! ? 8h0WS a decitled last tor he Horl d orfmge en s of the stomachs, however, show the wllli fruiu a.e prer Piobably only when these have been replaced Oy cultivated varieties is any mischief done. Three-toed woodpeckers are found to be very beneficial. These are res- J Practically all parts of the fnnrt . f,138- TllC great bUlk 0f the food ot these birds consists of the larvae lar-vae of wood-boring beetles or moths nose are eaten with great regularity throughout the year, but somewhat more m the colder months than in summer. The total of wood-boring larvae, including both caterpillars and beetles, found in the food of these birds, amounts to 77.13 per cent. Their vegetable food may be included in four "enis: Fruit, mast, cambium and rubbish. The foregoing show, that these woodpeckers act as "conservators "conserva-tors of the forest" in the strongest sense, as three-fourths of their food consists of the direct snemies of forest for-est trees. It is unfortunate that in most places three-toed woodpeckers are not very numerous, and for this reason they should be protected md encouraged in every nay possible. Of the several species of woodpeckers wood-peckers in the United States only three may be properly classed as sap-suckers. sap-suckers. These birds have short, bushy tongues, not adapted ' to the capture of insects, while the other woodpeckers have tongues with barbed tips which can be extended to spear luckless borers or other insects whose burrows in the wood have been reached by their powerful beaks. Th3 sapsuckers practically do not feed on wood borers or other forest enemies. ene-mies. Their chief insect food is ants. About 15 per cent of their diet consists con-sists of cambium and the inner bark of trees, and they drink a great dea' of sap. The parts of the tree injured by sapsuckers are those that carry the . rich sap which nourishes the growing wood and bark. It is evident, therefore, there-fore, that the birds' attack on trees may have serious results. When a small proportion of the bark and cambium are removed, the vitality of More farmers should . investigate the possibilities of having their own electric plants for furnishing light and power. According to L. T. Perrill of Kansas, farmers will shortly be as much interested in lighting plants as they are now in automobiles. This is demonstrated by the fact that at a recent re-cent state farmers' Institute in Kansas Kan-sas more than 400 farmers inspected an electric plant and were much interested in-terested in its operation. Mr. Perrill continues: "The common com-mon rural lighting outfit offered for saTe includes a dynamo to generate the electricity, a gasoline engine to run the dynamo, a switchboard, and a storage battery to store electrical energy en-ergy to be used by the lamps and small motors without running the engine en-gine A good, complete system can be purchased and installed for less than $500, not much more than one of the dangerous gas plants costs. This can be lowered if the farmer has a gasoline engine or wires his house himself. Electric lights will lower the insurance rate. "A one-horsepower engine.' or an additional ad-ditional horsepower to any engine, will run a dynamo large enough for a ten-ampere outfit. A ten-ampere out-Ht out-Ht is satisfactory for the average farm When the large power is lo be supplied by the gasoline engine Hie dvnamo can be run at the same ..me. requiring little more gaso.u.e. but .j,.,..,.. the tree may only be lowered, or branches here and there may be killed. When the injury is more extensive, ex-tensive, as it often is. the tree may be completely girdled, and of course dies. Holes made by sapsuckers go clear through the bark and often in'.o the wood. Sapsucker picking disfigures disfig-ures ornamei tal trees, giving rise to Pitch streams, gummy exeresences, and deformities of the trunks. Small fruit trees, especially apple, are often killed, and whole orchards have been destroyed by these birds. Sapsuckers are known to attack no fewer Uian 258 kinds of trees, shrubs, and vines in the United States. 63 of which are often seriously injured and 32 have been killed. Hickory trees are favorites of the sapsucker, and it is estimated that the annual loss on hickory alone from this cause is about $800,000. It has been found that sapsucker work unfits un-fits for use such important ornamental woods as mahogany, black walnut. Red-Bellied Woodpecker. white oak, yellow poplar, chestnut, cherry, sweet gum and hard maple; that it sdriously blemishes woods prized for peculiar qualities, such is ash, basswood, cypress, red cedar, holly, hol-ly, buckeye, and dogwood, and that it sometimes destroys the value of wood even for heavy construction, as southern basswood, spruce and western west-ern hemlock. It is evident that sapsuckers sap-suckers do not deserve protection. The yellow-bellied sapsucker is the only woodpecker having the front of ; the head from bill to crown red in combination with a black patch on the breast. The red-breasted sap- sucker is the only woodpecker that ' has the whole head and throat red. Great care should be taken to distinguish dis-tinguish sapsuckers from woodpeck- ers. ELECTRIC LIGHT FOR FAR IV! HOMES . . . . 13 if I A Small Electric Plant Suitable for a Farm. no more time. "The dynamo, switchboard and battery bat-tery are shipped ready to set up. In most cases, a good electrician should be secured to install the dynamo and cells and do the wiring. "A ten-ampere battery will operate all the lights required for a seven or eight-room house, as well as lights for the outbuildings. In addition, a small vacuum cleaner, electric toaster, wringer, washing machine, sewing machine, fan or electric iron can be used. "The farmer, after determining the number and sizes of lights he desires in each room, must estimate the number num-ber of hours they will burn In the morning and evening. These figures can be obtained from the number of hours that artificial light Is used now. "The average house with seven rooms, cellars and closets, should burn less than three hundred watts a week. The storage battery of a ten-ampere outfit will produce three hundred watts without recharging. It takes eight hours to charge the battery after it has ben discharged, completely. "The cost of wiring the house will vary between forty and one hundred dollars, depending upon the amount and grade of wiring and the fixtures used. A house can be wircc" cheaper when it is r:lng built than at any other time. The cost of upkeep is slight." |
