42 THE WOODPECKERS 



In the many years during which I watched 

 the sapsuckers — for there were undoubtedly a 

 number of different birds that came, although 

 never more than one at a time — there was such 

 a curious similarity in their actions that it is 

 entirely proper to speak as if the same bird 

 returned year after year. His visits, as I have 

 said, were usually made at the same season. He 

 would come silently and early, with the evident 

 intention of making this an all-day excursion. 

 By eight o'clock he would be seen clinging to 

 a branch and curiously observant of the dining- 

 room window, which at that hour probably ex- 

 cited both his interest and his alarm. Early in 

 the day he showed considerable activity, flitting 

 from limb to limb and sinking a few holes, three 

 or four in a row, usually above the previous 

 upper girdle of the limbs he selected to work 

 upon. After he had tapped several limbs he 

 would sit waiting patiently for the sap to flow, 

 lapping it up quickly when the drop was large 

 enough. At first he would be nervous, taking 

 alarm at noises and wheeling away on his broad 

 wings till his fright was over, when he would 

 steal quietly back to his sap-holes. When not 

 alarmed, his only movement was from one row 

 of holes to another, and he tended them with 

 considerable regularity. As the day wore on 



