464 LAND BIRDS 
occurrence with his Eastern cousin, the yellow-bellied 
sapsucker, who sometimes becomes so intoxicated on the 
sap of the mountain ash that he will allow himself to be 
picked up by the hand of a quiet observer. But the 
Red-breasted is more cautious, and knew instinctively 
just when my glasses were turned toward him or when 
I moved hand or foot. I say “ instinctively,” for often- 
times I knew he was behind the trunk where he could 
not see me, and yet the most noiseless movement brought 
him inquisitively into view. So long as he was on guard 
the female worked without fear, but when he left on a 
foraging expedition, she usually became restless and 
shortly afterwards flew away also. 
Incubation began May 30, and lasted fifteen days. 
The young were fed by regurgitation for the first two 
weeks. As in the case of most other woodpeckers ex- 
cept the flicker, | know this by closely watching the 
adults as they come to the nest. As soon as the bottle 
period is over, the food can be seen in their bills. After 
the first week, some few species, like the flicker, feed by 
regurgitation, from the doorway, in full view of the world. 
The young Sapsuckers left the nest on the seventh of 
July, and clung to the nest tree for three days. Here they 
were initiated by both parents into the mysteries of sap- 
sucking. <A hole having been bored in front of each, with 
grotesque earnestness the mother watched the attempt 
to drink the sweet syrup. During this time both insects 
and berries were brought to them by the adults, in one 
hour one youngster devouring twelve insects that looked 
like dragonflies. 
