134 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



Sometimes these sap wells completely girdle 

 the trunk and the tree in consequence is killed. 

 We have had a good illustration close at hand 

 of what a family of sturdy young Sapsuckers 

 can do in the way of injuring a tree. Each sea- 

 son soon after the first of August, they have 

 attacked a cut-leaf birch on the lawn, drilling 

 many holes in the bark. It seemed the life of 

 the tree was in danger and at first we adopted 

 severe measures. But in later years we found 

 the danger could be avoided by wrapping the 

 trunk with burlap, not a difficult thing to do as 

 their attacks were usually made on the body 

 below the limbs. But it seems certain that had 

 we not taken measures to defend the tree it 

 would have been ruined. Even now it is much 

 disfigured. 



It is said this is the only Woodpecker to catch 

 insects on the wing and he is quite expert at 

 fly catching. Not long ago I watched one of 

 these birds making frequent forays from his 

 perch in the treetops upon passing insects, I'ke 

 a veritable Flycatcher. The Yellow-bellied Sap- 

 sucker is a migrant that returns in early April 

 from a winter spent somewhere in a range ex- 

 tending from Virginia to Central America. 

 During migration and the mating and nesting 

 season that follows, they keep rather close to 

 the woods. But after the young are reared, they 

 are seen much in the open about parks, shade 

 trees, and orchards of the farm; in fact, wher- 

 ever there are deciduous trees. The male calls 

 his mate by beating a tattoo, but they have a 

 few vocal utterances. During migration and in 



