The Audubon Societies 151 



drilling the canoe birch, red maple, red oak, white ash, and probably other 

 trees for the purpose of taking from them the elaborated sap and in some 

 cases parts of the cambium layer; that the birds consume the sap in large quan- 

 tities for its own sake, and not for insect matter which such sap may chance 

 occasionally to contain; that the sap attracts many insects of various species 

 a few of which form a considerable part of the food of this bird, but whose cap- 

 ture does not occupy its time to anything like the extent to which sap-drinking 

 occupies it; that different families of these Woodpeckers occupy different 

 "orchards," such families consisting of a male, female, and from one to four 

 or five young birds; that the "orchards" consist of several trees usually only a 

 few rods apart and that these trees are regularly and constantly visited from 

 sunrise until long after sunset, not only by the Woodpeckers themselves, but 

 by numerous parasitical Hummingbirds which are sometimes unmolested, 

 but probably quite as often repelled; that the forest trees attacked by them gen- 

 erally die, possibly in the second or third year of use; that the total damage 

 done by them is too insignificant to justify their persecution in well-wooded 

 regions." 



(This summary, which I copied verbatim, is a brief resume of a very inter- 

 esting paper. — G. C. F.) 



BOLLES, FRANK. Young Sapsuckers in Captivity. Auk, 9 : 109-119. April, 1892. 

 '^Summary: From these experiments I draw the following conclusions: (i) 

 That the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker may be successfully kept in captivity for 

 a period corresponding to that during which, as a resident bird, he taps trees 

 for their sap, sustained during this time upon a diet of which from 90 to 100 

 per cent is diluted maple syrup; (2) that this fact affords evidence of an 

 extremely strong character, in confirmation and support of the theory that 

 when the Yellow-bellied Woodpecker taps trees for their sap he uses the sap 

 as his principal article of food, and not primarily as a bait to attract insects."— 

 G. C. F. 



BREWSTER, WILLIAM. The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker {Sphyrapicus varius). 

 Bull. Nutt. Ornith. Club, i : 63-70. Sept., 1876. 



In this most interesting article on the nesting-habits, including feeding 

 the young, etc., nothing is said of the habit of puncturing the bark of trees for 

 the sap. — G. C. F. 



[In a later issue, the nesting-habits of the Sapsucker will be more fully discussed 

 and illustrated, showing another method of study which our teachers and pupils can 

 follow if opportunity permits. — A. H. W.j 



THE STORY OF A YOUNG SWALLOW 



On August 6, 1914, I found baby Violet-green Swallow in the marigold 

 bed. She had fallen a good thirty feet from the Flicker hole under the eaves, 

 where her parents had made their nest. For many winters this hole has been 



