The Season 



253 



The sap flowed freely on all the trees and 

 in many places the bark was saturated. 

 The trunks of the trees were fairly alive 

 with ants, big and little, and thousands 

 of flies buzzed about in the air or alighted 

 in dense groups around the oozing aper- 

 tures. Numerous butterflies flitted hither 

 and thither, alighting from time to time 

 to sip a share of the feast. Of these the 

 most abundant was the red admiral ac- 

 companied by many mourning cloaks and 

 angel-wings, a few banded purples and an 

 occasional viceroy. Cabbage and yellow 

 sulphur butterflies were abundant in the 

 vicinity but did not v-isit the trees. Several 

 Red-headed Woodpeckers slipped in now and 

 then and helped themselves to the spread; 

 once a Flicker came and occasionally a Hum- 

 mingbird poised for a moment at one of the 

 holes. But the most persistent and voracious 

 intruders were two red squirrels. They 

 seemed fairly intoxicated by their prolonged 

 and frequent tipplings and resented with 

 many indignant 'chucks' and angry jerks of 

 body and tail all attempts at forcing them to 

 leave. They enlarged the holes by gnawing 

 away the bark thus converting several small 

 openings into one large one that would more 

 easily admit their tongues and even their 

 noses. All the other visitors kept away while 

 these large marauders were present. This is 

 but another evidence of the special fondness 

 of this squirrel for the sap of trees which leads 

 them to work such havoc among the twigs 

 and branches of forest and shade trees. They 

 are at times a veritable pest in this way, de- 

 facing and even destro>ing many valuable 

 ornamental trees. 



Amid all these busy doings the Sapsucker 

 owners of the borings came and went at fre- 

 quent intervals all day long. The male was 

 more active than the female and much more 

 fearless. The young evidently got by far the 

 greater part of their food from this source. 

 Close watching showed that it was the in- 

 sects, chiefly ants with a few flies, that the 

 Sapsuckers collected at the trees. The drier 

 holes would fill up with ants, closely packed, 

 with others tr>'ing to get in, and these the 

 woodpeckers quickly gathered, their bills 

 often loaded on the outside as well by ad- 

 hering sticky insects. No doubt a consider- 



able amount of sap was taken in addition but 

 it seemed plain that insects composed the 

 greater part of the food taken to the young. 

 Some 300 yards distant was a second 'farm' 

 in a grove of small elms surrounding a vine- 

 covered stub housing a brood of young Sap- 

 suckers which was being fed in the same 

 manner. Is it possible that by these grouped 

 tappings, close by the nesting-site, this 

 Woodpecker provides an abundant and eas- 

 ily accessible supply of food for its family? 

 After the young are a-wing they are directed 

 to the source of supplies and soon learn to 

 feed themselves as long as the larder holds 

 out. The sap-holes soon dry up when they 

 are not taken care of properly. 



On July 28, when the last visit was made 

 to the 'farm' described above, it was found 

 that the owner of the trees, discovering their 

 condition and thinking to save them, had ap- 

 plied a thick coat of whitewash to the trunks. 

 While this deterred the insects to some extent, 

 the Sapsuckers were still feeding both at the 

 old holes and at new ones made higher up. 

 Both the oldbirds and one bro\vn headed young 

 were present. They were, in addition, giving 

 some attention to an old, insect-infested tele- 

 phone pole that stood close by one of the trees. 



Even though it may be shown that the 

 greater part of the food of the Sapsucker con- 

 sists of insects, yet the destructive pro- 

 cedures by which the larger portion of such 

 insects is obtained, at least during the nesting 

 season, are sufficient to condemn the species. 



Itasca State Park Region, Minn. — Au- 

 gust I to 1 5. The weather up here in the north 

 woods was almost as warm during July as at 

 Minneapolis, noon temperatures of over 90 

 degrees being frequent. The nights, how- 

 ever, are usually cool. There was a light 

 frost on the night of July 30-31. 



We arrived at the Park August i. Driving 

 in from Bemidji, 36 miles through cut-over 

 pine coimtry, the roadside, where not cul- 

 tivated, was an almost continuous late-sum- 

 mer flower-garden. In full bloom were sun- 

 flowers, many of them 6 to 7 feet high, giant 

 fireweed in profusion, tall blazing star, Can- 

 ada hawkweed, clumps of anise, hyssop, and 

 in the low places, meadowsweet and Joe Pye- 

 weed. But few asters had yet appeared. 



