PETTY PILFERERS. 207 



The most unexpected plunderer of the sap- 

 sucker stores was a gray squirrel, who lay spread 

 out flat against the trunk as though glued there, 

 body, arms, legs, and even tail, with head down 

 and closely pressed against the bark. I cannot 

 positively affirm that he was sucking the sap or 

 feeding upon the insects attracted to it, but it is 

 a fact that his mouth rested exactly over one of 

 the rings of holes ; and his position seemed very 

 satisfactory, for some reason, for he hung there 

 motionless so long that I began to fear he was 

 dead. All these petty pilferers may possibly 

 have regarded the treasure as nature's own 

 provision, like the flowers, but one visitor to 

 his neighbor's magazine certainly knew better. 

 This was the brilliant cousin of the sapsucker, 

 the red-headed woodpecker, whose vagaries I 

 shall speak of a little later. 



Nothing about the tri-colored family is more 

 interesting than its habit of drumming, — 



" The ceaseless rap 

 Of the yellow-hammer's tap, 

 Tip-tap, tip-tap, tip-tap-tip. 

 'Tis the merry pitter-patter 

 Of the yellow-hammer's tap." 



Whether or not it is mere play is perhaps yet 

 an open question. The drumming of the sap- 

 sucker, one of the most common sounds of the 

 woods and lawn, seemed sometimes simply for 



