YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER. 161 
with arching necks and rapid, taunting cries of 
chuck! ah, chuck'ah, chuck'ah, chuck'ah, and then 
circle around the trunk after each other like a 
pair of hot-headed suitors quarrelling over their 
lady-love. When they are in a calmer mood their 
ery, though still emphatic, loses much of its taunt- 
ing tone, and is more like che wheel, che whee’, 
che whee', che whee’. They have a variety of call 
notes, such as kree, kray ; yah', yah', and kre! ah, 
all full of spirited emphasis. But their ebullient 
feelings cannot be expressed in that way; they 
must needs take to drumming and tinning. I 
quote from an account of their performances pub- 
lished ten years ago by my brother, Dr. C. Hart 
Merriam. It is interesting to note that their 
habits have not changed in that time. He says: 
“At this season scarcely an hour passes from 
daylight to sunset that one or more cannot be 
heard drumming with commendable perseverance 
upon the tin-roofs, eave-troughs, or escape-pipes 
of our house or some of the out-buildings. They 
strike the tin violently half a dozen or more times, 
evidently enjoying the sound thus produced, and 
then rest a few minutes before repeating the per- 
formance. Each woodpecker usually returns to 
the same spot, and on our roof are several patches 
the size of one’s hand, from which the paint has 
been entirely drummed off. On the escape-pipe 
they sometimes follow around a joint, and by con- 
stant and long-continued pounding so loosen the 
