s " l l „i.: xv | Correspondence L55 



of valuable timber trees which they work upon year after year, I >■ 1 1 which 

 are aol eriou ily affected bo far at health or external appearance are con- 

 cerned. Mr May mini says: " Personally we have never seen any .serious 



damage 'lour to trees by tapsuokers in the eastern seaboard states from 

 Maine to Florida." Tin comment means nothing; the writer bas never 

 seen bummers or other birds visit, sapsucker pits, but lie docs not, doubt 

 the i mill of observations on this point,. In fact lie is able to make out, a 

 much stronger case against himself than have the above mentioned persons. 



Hummers probably make more of a practice of visiting sapsucker pits 

 than any other birds, but Several Other species are known to do this occa- 

 sionally. One species, the ( !alifornia Woodpeekcr ( M 'riant-.r pe$ formicivCTUa 



bairdi) i is recorded as so doing on the authority of Joseph Grinnell in Bio- 

 logical Survey Bulletin '■'>'.), p. 92. V. L. Grundtvig ' states that in Wisconsin 

 Dryobates pubescent, Sitta caroXinenxix, UiijuUi., <ni< inluhi, fclerun yalJmiii, 

 and Dendroica coronata belp themselves from sapsucker holes. \. B, 

 Moore notes Hint on ,\cw Providence, Bahamas, Ccereba bahameneis, hin- 

 droica tigrina and I), coronata sometimes feed at sapsucker punctures. As 



to the ruby-throated hummingbird 1'Yank Holies gives a very full account 

 in 'From Blomidon to Smoky', pp. I'M 170, and 2(i0 '27'.', lie iilso 

 mentions the downy woodpecker. 



Dr. Ned Dearborn in experimenting upon sapsucker poisoning in the; 

 Angeles Forest, San Bernardino Mts., Calif., picked up 7 hummers (Calypte 

 (iiiim and Schisphorus rufux) and one warbler (Verrnivorn ruhr/m /hIIu i/ul- 

 turalis) killed by strychnine in sapsucker pits iii two days. It seems evi- 

 dent that hummers habitually visit sapsucker holes, while several other 



species of birds do so occasionally. The former incur much danger there- 

 fore from poisoning operations; the latter little. 



Some other factors also must be considered: few people will take the 

 trouble to poison sapsuckers; it will be done only locally, for the preserva- 

 tion of especially valuable ornamental or fruit-producing trees; that is, 

 when the money or time loss is apt to be large and in such cases relief can- 

 not be denied; poisoning in any one place need be continued for only a 

 few days; as soon as the poisoned punctures dry danger to birds is past; 

 the yellow-bellied sapsucker damages trees throughout the eastern United 

 Statis, but, except in the extreme northern part, i. e. in its breeding range — 

 usually at a BeaSOD when the birds known to visit its pits most frequently 

 are absent from the country. 



The problem of -japsucki rs among woodpeckers is very similar to that of 

 the few injurious members of the hawk arid owl family. The whole race 



of raptorial birds bac been popularly condemned chiefly on account of the 

 depredations of a small proportion of the species. This question has been 

 scientifically investigated by Dr A. K. Fisher and his recommendations as 

 to denial of protection to the ( roshawk, Sharp-shinned and ( Sooper'e I lawks 



and the Great Horned Owl have been embodied in t he laws of many States. 



i Trans. Wis. Acad. Hci.. Arts and Letters X July. 1894, im> 113 I I » 



