24 



THE OOLOGIST. 



all being frozen with thick ice it 

 was impossible to procure its natural 

 food — fish — and it died of starvation. 



In some unknown manner it was 

 compelled to alight upon the ground, 

 probably driven during a recent 

 storm, and as is well known, these 

 birds when once on the ground, are 

 powerless to rise. 



Uncle's farm is about a quarter of 

 a mile from the nearest stream — the 

 Pennypack Creek — for which the 

 Grebe was evidently making when 

 driven to the ground. 



He gave me the bird and it is now 

 mounted in my collection, the rarest 

 bird that I have from Philadelphia 

 county. 



Stone in his book, "Birds of Eastern 

 Penn. and X. J.," mentions this spe- 

 cies as an occasional winter transient 

 (page 31) in the vicinity of Phila- 

 delphia. Since the publication of his 

 excellent book but one capture has 

 been recorded from this vicinity. This 

 specimen was shot in 1894 at River- 

 ton. N. J. (See Cassinia for 1903, 

 page 44). 



My specimen is the only record of 

 its occurrence in Philadelphia coun- 

 ty that I have been able to find. 



It was mounted by Mr, Edwin C. 

 Axe, the well-known Frankford, Phil- 

 adelphia taxidermist, who has hunted 

 and collected birds in this vicinity for 

 50 years. He informed me that it 

 was the first one he had ever seen. 



All gunners who have been inter- 

 viewed for information regarding the 

 water birds of this locality, report 

 having never shot the species. 



Holboell's Grebe then, is a rare 

 winter visitant in this county, in- 

 stead of an occasional transient. 



Dec. 28, 1904. 



Philadelphia, P. 



The Yellow-bellied Woodpecker in 

 Michigan. 



J. B. Purdy in "The Red-headed and 

 other Woodpeckers in Michigan in 

 Winter" (Auk, Vol. XVIII, P. 174) 

 states that the Yellow-bellied "Wood- 

 pecker or Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus va- 

 ius) is the only member of the family 

 (Picidae) that should not be protected 

 by law. From personal observation 

 I am inclined to differ. He states 

 that this species makes its appear- 

 ance in April, but I have on two oc- 

 casions seen it during the winter. I 

 shot one while in the act of eating 

 grubs of which its stomach was full. 

 Of all the birds of this species which 

 I have at different times observed, 

 I have never seen it drinking sap, al- 

 though it is well known that this furn- 

 ishes a large portion of its diet. 



F. E. L. Beal of the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture has probably giv- 

 en more light on this subject than any- 

 one in "Some Common Birds in their 

 Relation to Agriculture," in which he 

 states: "It has been customary to 

 speak of the smaller Woodpeckers as 

 sapsuckers under the belief that they 

 drill holes in the bark for the pur- 

 pose of drinking the sap and eating 

 the inner bark. Close observation, 

 however, has fixed this habit upon 

 one species, the Yellow-bellied Wood- 

 pecker or Sapsucker. This bird has 

 been shown to be guilty of pecking 

 holes in the bark of various forest 

 trees, and sometimes in that of apple 

 trees, from which it drinks the sap 

 when the pits become filled." 



"It has been proved, however, that 

 besides taking the sap, the bird cap- 

 tures large numbers of insects which 

 are attracted by the sweet fluid, and 

 that these form a very considerable 

 portion of its diet. In some cases 

 the trees are injured by being thus 

 punctured, and die in a year or two. 



