102 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 
One of his popular names is “ sapsucker,”’ for 
our nuthatch has a sweet tooth, and when the 
farmers tap the trees in spring he “happens 
round ” at the sugar bush to see what sort of ma- 
ple syrup they are to have. He tests it well, tak- 
ing a sip at “the calf” where it oozes out from 
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the gashing of the axe, tasting it as it dries along 
the spile, and finally on the rim of the buckets. 
But his most interesting name is — nuthatch / 
How does he come by it? That seems a riddle. 
Some cold November day put on a pair of thick 
boots and go to visit the beeches. There in their 
tops are the nuthatches, for they have deserted 
the tree trunks for a frolic. They are beechnut- 
ting! And that with as much zest as a party of 
