HOW THE WOODPECKER COURTS HIS MATE 17 



spring arrives in Maine, ushered in by the reveille 

 of the sapsucker. 



So ambitious is the sapsucker of the excel- 

 lence of his performance that no instrument but 

 the best will satisfy him. He is always experi- 

 menting, and will change his anvil for another 

 as soon as he discovers one of superior resonance. 

 They say he tries the tin pails of the maple- 

 sugar makers to see if these will not give him a 

 clearer note ; that he drums on tin roofs and 

 waterspouts till he loosens the solder and they 

 come tumbling down. But usually he finds no- 

 thing so near his liking as a hard-wood branch, 

 dead and barkless, the drier, the harder, the 

 thinner, the finer grained, so much the better 

 for his uses. 



Deficient as they are in voice, the woodpeck- 

 ers do not lack a musical ear. Mr. Burroughs 

 tells us that a downy woodpecker of his acquaint- 

 ance used to change his key by tapping on a 

 knot an inch or two from his usual drumming 

 place, thereby obtaining a higher note. Alter- 

 nating between the two places, he gave to his 

 music the charm of greater variety. The wood- 

 peckers very quickly discover the superior con- 

 ductivity of metals. In parts of the country 

 where woodpeckers are more abundant than 

 good drumming trees, a tin roof proves an 



