weston THE YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER 175 



better advantage. At times he hopped sidewise visiting many 

 holes that were arranged in horizontal rows and then calmly 

 dropped himself four or five feet to holes near the base of the 

 trunk. 



The feathers on his underparts were soiled by the sap which 

 flowed down the trunk but his eyes were bright and when he 

 looked at me as he frequently did he looked me straight in the 

 eyes. The feathers on the crown are red and were occasionally 

 raised in a small crest. The red on the throat showed to advantage 

 and the border between the red and black could easily be traced 

 from where I stood. The female differs from the male in having 

 the red on the throat replaced by white. The bird is a dirty yellow 

 underneath and from this it is named. The black and white 

 bars running lengthwise the wings are conspicuous marks as are 

 the white lines running through the eyes. Other white lines 

 begin at the base of the bill and run along the sides of the throat 

 and breast. 



When not molested the birds were continually chasing each 

 other, bobbing in and out among the trees, down into bushes, 

 up and on again, eventually returning after each chase to the 

 tree near which I had stood. The two followed each other up 

 and around the trunk, drinking the sap and resting up for another 

 spin through the trees and bushes. At times both were drinking 

 from cups in the same horizontal row. 



Some of these horizontal rows contained twenty or more cups, 

 in one case the trunk being completely girdled save for the small 

 spaces between cups. The fact that the holes have these spaces 

 between them saves the lives of the trees and materially reduces 

 the damage done by the birds. I found the bark of many trees 

 filled with former and now healed holes, the trees seeming none 

 the worse for the sprees which sapsuckers had had at their expense 

 during former years. I saw scores of trees with a few fresh holes 

 but numerous healed ones which were gradually becoming smaller 

 and smaller each year. Where a few holes are added each year 

 it soon makes quite a showing but results in no harm to the tree. 

 There were no dead trees in the grove and hence none could 

 have been killed by the birds. No doubt a few weak ones are 

 killed each year but to balance this the bird has to his credit 

 large numbers of harmful insects destroyed. 



