INDIVIDUALITY IN BIRDS. 229 



The wild sap-sucking woodpeckers in the New 

 Hampshire forests derive the chief of their diet 

 from the sap of the common deciduous trees. 

 Attacking the trees in April, often before the 

 snow has wholly disappeared from the shady 

 hollows and north sloj^es, they riddle the bark 

 with dozens of small holes, from which the sap 

 flows freely. Red squirrels, downy woodj^eck- 

 ers, and humming-birds like this flowing sap 

 quite as well as do the sapsuckers, and they 

 frequent the " orchards " more or less persist- 

 ently. No stronger proof of individual differ- 

 ences in bird character has come to my notice 

 than that afforded by the opposite kinds of 

 treatment accorded the pilfering humming-birds 

 by various families of sapsuckers. At some 

 orchards it is only necessary for a humming- 

 bird to be heard approaching the trees for the 

 woodpeckers to be on the watch, ready to drive 

 the intruder away. Fierce attacks are made 

 upon the little birds, and they are never per- 

 mitted to drink at the sap holes if woodpeckers 

 arc on guard. At other orchards the opposite 

 is the rule, and a favorite humming-bird is 

 allowed to drink when and where he pleases, 

 provided he does not actually buzz in the face of 

 his host, and attempt to sip from the cup in use. 

 This difference in the treatment of the hummino^- 

 birds is not a matter of daily whim, but is the 



