THE YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER. 85 



dant, it becomes a imisanco, niul materially injures, and eventually kills, many 

 such trees. Indirectly it also causes the death of many a Hairy and Downy 

 Woodpecker (the best friends the fruit grower has), these species l^eing- fre- 

 quently shot through ignorance of their habits or because they are mistaken for 

 Sapsuckers. Besides puncturing- apple trees, it is also partial to the thorn apple, 

 elm, white and yellow l)irch, red and sugar maple, ])0})lar, i-ed oak, hemlock, 

 white and mountain ash, and several species of pines. That it should be foud 

 of the sweet snp of trees does not surprise me, as this contains considerable 

 nourishment, and likewise attracts a good many insects, which the birds eat; but 

 it is not so easy to account for its especial predilection for tlie sap of the moun- 

 tain ash, which has a decidedly bitter taste, and I believe possesses intoxicating 

 properties, unless it be taken for the latter purpose; and the fact tliat after drink- 

 ing freely of the sap of this tree it may often be seen clinging lo the trunk for 

 hours at a time, as if stupefied, seems to confirm this view. It is well known 

 that some of our l)irds indulge in such disreputable practices, and possildv 

 this species nnist be included in the number, as there are sots among birds as 

 well as among the genus Homo. Aside from sap, the soft inner bark of trees, 

 and the various insects already mentioned, it feeds to a considerable extent 

 ou ben'ies of different kinds, such as those of the sour gum, dogwood, frost 

 gi'apes, blueberries, raspberries, strawben-ies, and blackberries, as Avell as occa- 

 sionally, when hard pressed by hung-er, on nuts, acorns, and sometimes even on 

 Indian corn. 



Mr. Otto Widmann, of Old Orchard, Missoiu-i, has kindly furnished me Avith 

 the following notes, as observed by him in that vicinity: "They are unobtrusive 

 and rather sluggisli Ijirds, (piite unlike the Hairy and Downy Woodpeckers. 

 They may be seen sitting for half an hour at a time in the same place, sometimes 

 crosswise on a. branch. During a late wintry spell, when a freezing- rain had 

 enveloped everything in a sheet of ice, a Sapsucker hugged a piece of bacon 

 hung up in a tree for two whole days. While the Downy and Hairy never get 

 tired of eating nuts, the Sapsucker uses them oidy when hard ])ressed by hiinger, 

 and after his return in February he spends his whole time puncturing the pines. 

 His favorite tree among our ornamental evergreens is the Austrian pine, his 

 second choice is the Scotch pine, while he never taps the white pine and Norwa\" 

 spruce. Of deciduous trees he occasionally punctures the shell-bark hickory, 

 sugar maple, and crab apjjle; tliis, however, is not done to any great extent. 



"The trunks and larger limbs of the Austrian and Scotch pines look very 

 badly at times, but, strange to say, though they are not oidy girdled, but in 

 some places comjjactly covei-ed with holes, the trees thrive as though they had 

 not been hurt by the perforations and loss of sap. This sap has no tereblnthine 

 taste, but is as sweet and pure in flavor as that of a deciduous plant; but the 

 exudations of resin, the secondary result of the Sapsucker's lab(irs, mar the 

 appearance of these trees by running down its sides or hardening into unsightly 

 lumps. Many of the birds remain in southern Missouri during winter." 



