Common Birds on the Farm. 



285 



work is done in the spring. This year when the sap first began to rise 

 the Sapsucker came out of the woods and commenced operations on the 

 oalsain. He is a wonderful carpenter, and the way he made the chips 

 ily with his sharp bill was astonishing. Hour after hour he toiled on, 

 -cutting scores of holes through the bark to the solid wood beyond. In 



I) Of; 



'v^y i 





]tir.r>^c 



1 ? 



\ 



^^1% 



g^r— 



Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. 



(After Beal, Farmers' BuUetin No. r,!,. Office of Experiment Stations, U. S. Department 



of Agriculture.) 



a few days hundreds of these little wells had been sunk and the sap rose 

 in them in abundance. 



"The bird would cling to the side of the tree, braced by his tail, 

 and drink the sweet juice from the holes, one after another. As they ran 

 dry, day by day, other holes were chiseled. Usually these openings were 

 made in rings about the tree or in rows up and down its side. I 

 counted forty-two holes in one vertical line. These were mostly about 

 the size of a lead pencil, but a few were an inch and a quarter long 

 and three-fourths of an iiTch wide. Some of the holes are less than a 



