NORTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER 63 



He throws a good deal of doubt on some seemingly definite obser- 

 vations from correspondents quoted by Forbush in his "Birds of 

 Massachusetts," when he says that "many leave one in considerable 

 uncertainty as to whether the correspondents actually saw the downy 

 woodpecker making the rings of holes, or merely tapping in the same 

 region, or drinking the sap, or eating cambium from holes whose 

 origin was not ascertained. It may be that some of the correspondents 

 were unable to distinguish the true species of woodpecker." 



Dr. Townsend cites several observations, two of which are quoted 

 below. If the first of these had not been correctly interpreted, and if 

 the other had not been seen in its entirety, they might have led to 

 error. He says: 



There is one observation, however, which should be quoted here, as it is of 

 considerable interest in this discussion, an observation made by a capable 

 observer with great care. Forbush says, loc. cit., vol. ii, p. 268 : "The first trust- 

 worthy evidence, however, that I obtained regarding the tapping of trees for sap 

 by the Downy Woodpecker was in 1899, when my assistant, the late Charles E. 

 Bailey, on April 6 watched one for several hours. His report reads : 'At 12 : 30 

 I found a Downy Woodpecker, and watched him till 2 : 45 ; he took three larvae 

 from a maple stub, just under the bark. He next tapped two small swamp 

 maples, four and six feet from the ground, and spent most of the time taking 

 sap. He tapped the tree by picking it a few times very lightly ; it looked like 

 a slight cut, slanting a little. The bird would sit and peck the sap out of the 

 lower part of the cut. The cut was so small the sap did not collect very fast. 

 The bird would go and sit for a long time in a large tree and not move, then 

 it would come back and take more sap. It did this three times while I was 

 watching it. It did not care to take any food but the sap.' * * * Mr. Bailey 

 cut off and brought me the limb, the bark of which was perforated by the bird. 

 * * * The perforations passed through the bark to the wood, but did not enter 

 it and they do not in the least resemble in shape those made by the Yellow-bellied 

 Sapsucker." Here is just what we should expect in a woodpecker not specialized 

 as a sapsucker. * * * 



The next record is of considerable significance in this discussion, and had I 

 seen only the latter half of the drama, my conclusions might have been different. 

 In the Wenham swamp on May 11, 1906, my notes state that Glover M. Allen and 

 I found a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker drilling holes in a white pine. His move- 

 ments were slow and he paid little attention to vis standing below him at the 

 foot of the tree. When he departed, a female Downy Woodpecker visited the 

 holes. 



Speaking of his own observations. Dr. Townsend says : "I may state 

 that, although I have long watched Downy Woodpeckers gleaning 

 insects on and in the bark and wood of trees at all seasons of the year, 

 I have never seen them dig circles of holes in the bark. * * * I 

 have never found fresh rings of holes except during the time of the 

 sapsucker migrations." 



Voice. — The downy woodpecker is by no means a noisy bird; com- 

 pared to the red-headed woodpecker, with its loud rattling calls, or to 

 the shouting, boisterous flicker, it is quiet and demure. Nevertheless, 



