740 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



ing rows of small round holes in the bark of many S])e- 

 cies of trees and drinking the sap which collects. One 

 bird usually taps several different trees and each one in 

 several places, and then makes the rounds as often as the 

 sap collects. It is interesting to note that the barbs on 

 the tongue, so characteristic of the woodpeckers, have 



Photograph by G. A. Bailey. 



HE ALSO LIKES SUET 



A red-bcllied woodpecker at a feeding station. This is a southern species, 

 but ranges as far north as southern New York. 



been modified into a fringe or brush for collecting the 

 sap. Sapsuckers eat likewise such insects as are attracted 

 by the sap and, like the red-headed woodpeckers, are 

 quite expert at catching insects on the wing. In addition 

 they eat some of the soft inner bark exposed when the 

 holes are being drilled, and, in soft-wooded trees, like the 

 poplar, where the sap does not flow freely, and the cam- 

 bium is almost gelatinous, they sometimes peck off fairly 

 large areas. Ordinarily their rows of holes do not over- 

 lap and little or no damage is done to the tree, but some- 

 times, when the birds are very numerous, and for some 

 reason persist in attacking a particular ornamental ever- 

 green or mountain ash, they ruin its a])pearance, seriouslv 

 weaken it, or even kill it. The holes drilled by the sa]> 

 sucker often stain the underlying timber, causing what 



are known as "bird pecks," and are said by lumber 

 dealers to cause a devaluation to timber of the United 

 States of nearly a million dollars annually. 



At times sapsuckers behave in an erratic and foolish 

 manner, zigzagging through the trees with no api)arent 

 reason, flying into windows or walls or the sides of 

 houses, even becoming so stupid as to allow themselves 

 to be ])icked from the trees, or alighting on one's per- 

 son and climbing up his leg as though it were the limb of 

 a tree. It has been suggested that the sap ferments in 

 the sun and that the sapsuckers become intoxicated, but 

 this theory has by no means been proved. 



The common sapsucker of the East is the yellow-bel- 

 lied species. It is about the size of a hairy woodpecker 

 with the same general appearance, but has the throat and 

 the whole top of the head red. It has also a conspicuous 



YELLOW-BELLIED S.M'SUCKER 



The Sapsucker at his sugar bush. The numerous round holes drilled to 

 get the sap do not usually injure the trees, but sometimes do, and stain the 

 underlying timber. 



white stripe on each wing, a black crescent on the breast, 

 and slightly yellowish under parts which are somewhat 

 streaked. The female has a white throat and of imma- 

 ture birds the top of the head is black. 



'T^HE use of creosoted wood blocks, which originally 

 -"- began as paving material for city streets, has now 

 spread into many other lines, according to a statement 

 issued by the United States Forest Service. The dura- 

 bility of such pavement, the noiselessness under heav\' 

 traffic, and its sanitary properties give creosoted wood 

 block especial value for use where heavy trucking takes 

 place, and such flooring is now found throughout 

 the country in factories, warehouses, machine shops, 

 foundries, quarries and docks, and even in hotel kitchens, 

 hospitals, laundries and slaughter houses. 



TN the study of wood using industries foresters from 

 -*- Syracuse University have discovered an Onondaga 

 County man who has an interesting water-power saw 

 mill. When the power is not needed for the saw mill he 

 runs either a grist mill, or a cider mill with it. He also 

 has a small electric light plant operated by the same 

 power. The mill has been in operation for more than, 

 twenty-five years. Authorities at the College of Forestry 

 say that full and profitable utilization of the woodlot 

 products will be assured only when the State is dotted 

 with these "many purpose" mills. 



