132 NATURE STUD\. 



a brown leaf whisk across the road close to the ground. 

 Still, the motion was a little too brisk for a wind-swept leaf 

 and I turned my glass toward the vanishing point of the ob- 

 ject. Sure enough, it was a tiny bird and one I had never 

 seen here before, though I had both seen and heard it at 

 Jefferson and at Mt. Chocorua. The cinnamon-brown body 

 the little perked up tail and the quaint, bobbing move- 

 ments at once showed the bird to be a wren, and subse- 

 quent close inpection revealed the characteristic markings 

 of Troglodytes hiemalis. 



lyast season the species was observed here by Dr. W. R. 

 Varick, who was so fortunate also as to hear the song. 



3. OUR SAPSUCKER. 



A good sized European white birch near the house is a 

 favorite resort of sapsuckers during both spring and fall 

 migrations. One of these birds we call our sapsucker, for 

 we are reasonably certain that this one, an elegant male, is 

 a regular semi-annual visitant. He first came to the tree 

 Sept. 26, 1898, remaining about three weeks. For a few 

 days he worked hard, boring not less than a hundred holes 

 in the bark, most of them in a ring about fifteen feet from 

 the ground. Having thus nearly girdled the tree — for the 

 safety of which we were not a little alarmed — he subsided 

 into a condition of indolence and thereafter spent most 

 his time dipping his bill into the holes and sucking 

 the sap with evident satisfaction. We observed that in 

 boring he slanted his bill considerably until he had pene- 

 trated the outer bark, after which he struck directly for- 

 ward ; also that in drinking he probed deeply and with 

 great deliberation. 



It was evident from the length of the bird's stay that he 

 had discovered a rich feeding ground. Subsequent occur- 

 rences showed that he intended to keep this ior his exclu- 



