YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER 209 



Some Sapsuckers have been experimented with 

 to find out if they could live principally on syrup, 

 but in each instance have died from the diet. 

 Stomach examinations bear out this testimony. 

 The Sapsucker is largely an insect-eater. He 

 ranks next to the Flicker as an ant-eater, 36 per 

 cent, of his solid food consisting of ants. He 

 also destroys wasps, beetles, bugs, flies, grasshop- 

 pers, and crickets. He eats more flies than any 

 other Woodpecker, and Professor Beal says that 

 he probably fully compensates for whatever harm 

 he does by the number of insects he consumes. 

 To keep him from ornamental trees it might be 

 well to plant the dogwood, black alder, Virginia 

 creeper, w^ld black cherry, and juniper. 



In some places, Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright 

 tells us, the farmers cover the trunks of their 

 orchard trees with fine wire netting, in this way 

 getting protection without depriving themselves 

 of the good offices of the bird. 



Aside from his food the Sapsucker is one of 

 the most interesting of Woodpecker characters, a 

 splendid, spirited bird whose rollicking cries call 

 our attention and whose gay humors excite our 

 admiration. 



These martial spirits lead the drum corps of the 

 forest. In a posted woods I have known two of 

 them to take up positions on signs forbidding 

 shooting, and proceed to beat their tattoos as 

 loudly as if calling attention to the inscriptions 



