136 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



a quarter dollars." He continues : "Sapsuckers do not prey upon any 

 especially destructive insects and do comparatively little to offset the 

 damage they inflict. Hence the yellow-bellied sapsucker * * * 

 must be included in the class of injurious species." 



The situation is quite different on the breeding ground. Here the 

 birds resort to a group of trees, and confine their feeding activities 

 almost exclusively to them. Frank Bolles (1891), in his study of the 

 bird in the region about Mount Chocorua, N. H., terms these stations 

 "orchards." He describes one of them as consisting "of about a 

 dozen canoe birches and red mai^les, most of which were dead, some 

 decayed and fallen. The tree most recently tapped was a red maple 

 about forty feet high and two feet through at the butt " Of another 

 "orchard," half a mile away, he says : "The tree in use last year vv-as 

 nearly dead. Two neighboring birches showing scars of earlier 

 years were quite dead. All stood on the crest of a kame. About three 

 rods along the ridge to the eastward a red oak and two or three canoe 

 birches were in use by the birds." This report shows that sapsuckers 

 undoubtedly cause the death of many trees as they return to their 

 "orchards" year after year, but most of these trees are of small value, 

 especially in the heavily forested regions where the birds commonly 

 breed. 



Bolles (1891) also notes the association of the sapsuckers with the 

 ruby-throated hummingbirds, which were attracted to the pits by the 

 running sap. In the main, hosts and guests got along well enough 

 together, although attacks occurred on both sides from time to time. 

 He says: "My notes refer again and again to the spiteful treatment 

 of the Hummers at Orchard No. 1. On the other hand at Orchard 

 No. 2 they say 'Male and young one dipping. Hummer comes in and 

 dips several times hetween them and they offer no objection.' " 



Major Bendire (1895), half in jest, we may presume, brings an 

 accusation of inebriety against the sapsucker in these words : 



That it should be foud of the sweet sap of trees does not surprise me, as this 

 contains considerable nourishment, and likewise attracts a good many insects, 

 which the birds eat ; but it is not so easy to account for its especial predilection 

 for the sap of the mountain ash, which has a decidedly bitter taste, and I 

 believe possesses intoxicating properties, unless it be taken for the latter 

 purpose ; and the fact that after drinking freely of the sap of this tree it may 

 often be seen clinging to the trunk for hours at a time, as if stupefied, seems 

 to confirm this view. It is well known that some of our birds indulge in such 

 disreputable practices, and possibly this species must be included in the number, 

 as there are sots among birds as well as among the genus Homo. 



Voice. — Just as the sapsucker in its behavior is conspicuous, almost 

 boisterous, at one season of the year and retiring and unobtrusive at 

 another, in the same way it is very noisy in spring and the early part 

 of the nesting period and comparatively silent afterward. 



