YOUNG SAPSUCKERS IN CAPTIVITY. 1G7 



ings or impulses. Nevertheless, I think the old 

 birds at Orchard No. 1 during July, 1890, called 

 each other by tapping, and I do not feel at all 

 sure that closer study than mine might not work 

 out a sapsucker code. 



On August 9, I noted that the birds were " as 

 noisy as a boiler factory, " and that One and 

 Three were showing reddish coloring on their 

 heads. Three, I speak of as " gentle and refined," 

 but One is constantly alluded to as rough, noisy, 

 and restless. I tested their color sense by pla- 

 cing some flaming nasturtiums in the front of 

 their cage. They did not even look at them, but 

 trampled back and forth over them until the 

 flowers fell. 



On August 13, a very warm day, I saw one 

 of the sapsuckers bathing at 7.30 P. M., when it 

 was nearly dark in the cage. On the 14th — a 

 rainy day — one of them bathed about 6 P. M. 

 When the sun fell upon their cage in an after- 

 noon, the birds often sought the sunlight, and, 

 standing in it, drooped their wings and opened 

 their mouths as though suffering. They could 

 readily have avoided its heat. 



On August 17, I was away all day, and the 

 sapsuckers' syrup dish became dry. Early on 

 the 18th, the birds began pounding so furiously, 

 that, as my notes say, " they could be heard a 

 quarter of a mile away." When I filled their 



