11 A. Boi.LES, Tou7ig Sapsuckcrs in Caftivity. [April 



Three had escaped for a second time. I searched for her hi vain. 

 The next day rain fell in torrents all the forenoon. About one 

 o'clock the cry of a Sapsucker was heard through the closed 

 windows of the house, and Three was discovered clinging to the 

 piazza railing just in front of my study window. She was wet 

 and dismal. I tried to catch her with my hand but she flew to 

 the nearest tree trunk, where I secured her by throwing a piece 

 of soft mosquito netting over her. The moment I placed her in 

 the cage she fastened herself beside the cup and drank many 

 times. After satisfying her hunger she retired to the darkest 

 corner of the cage to dry and doze. The other birds paid no 

 attention to her. 



On July 25 two Downy Woodpeckers were working in my 

 orchard. Taking a trout rod and line, I made a small slip-noose 

 at the end of the tip joint and poked it into the tree where one of 

 the Woodpeckers was inspecting the bark. He w^atched the 

 rod and seemed puzzled by it, but did not fly. Slowly lowering 

 the noose I let it settle around his neck, and then by a slight jerk 

 drew it tight. He flew in small circles round and round the tip 

 of the rod, held by the noose, and slightly choked by it. A 

 minute later, freed from the line, he was in the Sapsuckers' cage. 



He was a young bird, like the Sapsuckers, and I supposed that 

 the latter would not notice that he was not one of their ovv^n fam- 

 ily. I thought it possible that he might follow their example 

 and drink syrup from the cups, for I "had once seen a Downy 

 Woodpecker dipping at one of the Sapsucker's 'orchards.' Un- 

 happily, however, the stranger was not welcomed kindly, and as 

 I was called away for the day, he had no defender. The Sap- 

 suckers pursued him from one corner of their cage to another, 

 striking him fierce blows on his head and over his eyes until he 

 fell to the floor exhausted. Reviving, he again attracted their 

 notice and attack, but his second fall was his last. 



About August I it seemed to me that the Sapsuckers were un- 

 usually restless ; they whined and scolded a great deal and went 

 from room to room incessantly. I think that at this season the 

 wild birds begin to frequent their 'orchards' less regularly than 

 in May, June, and July. The captives tapped a great deal, and 

 I gave them a variety of things to play upon, as, for example, a 

 sweet-toned glass tumbler, thin sheets of zinc, and resonant 

 pieces of- wood arranged to give out various tones. They tested 



