BIRDS OF NEW YORK 151 



alight on the clothing of a bird student and climb up his outstretched arm 

 without seeming to realize that he was on a man instead of a tree. It is 

 evident they become tipsy on the sap in the same manner that thrushes 

 frequently become stupefied by feeding upon fermented fruit. The Sap- 

 sucker devours also the soft cambium layer which lies just beneath the 

 bark of trees and in this way, where its rows of holes are close together, 

 practically girdles the tree and effects its destruction. It may be said in 

 partial defense of the Sapsucker, however, that he feeds also on the insects 

 which are attracted to the sap that is evaporating from the hole and in 

 this way destroys great numbers of forest pests ; but, on the whole, he must 

 be regarded as a doubtful, if not even an injurious, species. In the late 

 summer and fall his food consists mostly of wild fruit and nuts, but during 

 the nesting season while he is rearing his young, his food is largely of boring 

 larvae and beetles. The nest of the Sapsucker is usually excavated in a 

 dead tree or stub about 25 feet from the ground. In the Adirondacks 

 I noticed that they seemed to prefer beeches, birches and maples for nest- 

 ing sites. The nest is almost always built under the shelter of the forest 

 and not in clearings, as is the case with red-headed woodpeckers and flickers. 

 The hole is 1.5 inches in diameter at the entrance, and 6 to 18 inches deep. 

 The eggs are 4 to 5, sometimes 6, in number, pure white in color and 

 average .88 by .67 inches in dimensions. 



Phloeotomus pileatus abieticola (Bangs) 

 Northern Pileated Woodpecker 



Plate 63 



Ceophloeus pileatus abieticola Bangs. Auk, April 1898. 15:176 

 Picus pileatus DeKay. Zool. of N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 184, fig. 39 

 Phloeotomus pileatus abieticola A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. 



p. 192. No. 405a 



phloeotomus, Gr., cpXoios, the inner bark of trees, and tI[avg), to hew; pileatus, Lat., 

 wearing a cap (the pileus, shaped like the half of an egg) 



Description. Very large, bill long and heavy, head crested; colors 

 chiefly black and white; upper parts in general and all the under parts 

 of body dull black; throat and line from bill on each side of the neck and. 



