THE SECEETARY'S PORTFOLIO. 205 



A FRIEND TO SAP-SUCKERS. 



Cassias M. Clay, of White Hall, Ky., in a short article for the Indiana 

 Farmer says a good word for the sap-sucker : 



So small an animal as the sap-sucker becomes of vast importance in preserv- 

 ing fruit and other trees in our pecuniary interests. For long years I have 

 been trying to prove that the sap-sucker sucks no sap, but is the deadliest foe 

 of the vermin which destroy our trees. In my article in your paper on birds 

 I gave some of the proofs of my theory, I now offer additional evidence. 

 On a sugar maple near my door, to which I alluded before, I found the white- 

 breasted sap-sucker apparently pecking the bark. I went to the place and 

 found ten holes in a section of a circle as usual. Twice more I saw the same 

 bird in the same place, but the holes were not increased in number, but only 

 widened by the bill of the bird. Now if the holes had been made by the bird 

 new ones would have been made also, or indefinitely increased in size to get at 

 the tender bark ; neither fact occurred. Again, the water maple about this 

 time emits sap profusely when the albumen is cut. But here no water ran out. 

 The reason is that the borer had already hardened the wood by exposure since 

 last fall, and the entrance of the bird's bill touched no new wood, and conse- 

 quently no water flowed. Here then are proofs positive that the sap-sucker was 

 simply feeding upon the embryo borers, and not upon the tender bark or sap. 



THE SAP-SUCKER AGAIN. 



Dr. Hoskins, of Vermont, evidently uses his eyes to some purpose, and from 

 his observations makes the following very sensible remarks upon the sap- 

 sucker : 



The so-called ''sap-sucker" pecks holes in the bark of living trees only. 

 These holes are made around the trunk or a large branch. They are about a 

 quarter of an inch in diameter, and the same or a little greater distance apart, 

 and the rows, one under another to the number of six or more, are about one 

 inch apart. The holes never extend into the wood, and are excavated laterally, 

 so that the cavity is widest at the bottom. The great number of species of 

 trees, both evergreen and deciduous, upon which these attacks are made, ren- 

 ders it highly improbable that the bird is after an insect or worm of any kind. 

 We know of no insect that deposits or inserts eggs in so many species or in 

 such circles and ranks as are represented by the "sap-sucker's" holes, nor do 

 we ever note ravages such as worms hatched from eggs so deposited might be 

 expected totnake. On the contrary this bird invariably attacks wliat appears 

 to be perfectly sound and healthy bark. Great injury is inflicted by these 

 attacks, both upon orchard and forest trees. The white birch is frequently 

 killed, and an apple tree badly pecked ceases to bear for several years. 



What the purpose of this bird in making these excavations in the green bark 

 of trees may be, has been a matter of doubt and discussion among observers. 

 The systematic ornithologists have confined their attention mostly to peculiar- 

 ities of structure with the view to classification, and very few of them are able 

 to give information of value to farmers about practical questions affecting the 

 character of species in regard fo their helpfulness or iiarmfulness upon the 

 farm. The general assumption has been that all birds are useful, which is 



