No. 123.] ORNITHOLOGY. 89 



that could be found was a memorandum to the effect that 

 Chester A. Reed had seen the bird in the act. 



Sapsuckers are now known to decorate the trees with little 

 round holes in the manner described above. This habit has 

 been observed and recorded by many people. Within the 

 past two years the following persons have noted this habit of 

 the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker in Massachusetts and reported 

 it to this office: Messrs. F. B. Currier, A. A. Cross, A. C. 

 Bagg, C. A. Clark, Arthur J. Parker, H. A. Torrey, Mrs. Viola 

 F. Richards, Miss Mabel R. Wiggin and INIrs. W. F. Eldredge. 

 The principal object of the bird seems to be to eat the cam- 

 bium^ or to drink the sap. In "Useful Birds and their Pro- 

 tection" there appears the following sentence: ''The holes 

 made by the Sapsucker are different in shape, being square 

 rather than round." This is an error, as the evidence shows 

 that the Sapsucker makes both round and sc^uare holes. Many 

 ornithologists defend the Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers, 

 which often are called Sapsuckers by the country people, and 

 assert that these woodpeckers never take sap or eat cambium. 



An inquiry was begun in 1919 and continued through the 

 past year to determine whether both the Sapsucker and the 

 Downy Woodpecker could be held responsible for the rings of 

 small rounded punctures. The principal objects of the inquiry 

 were to examine the evidence concerning sapsucking habits of 

 other Woodpeckers than the Sapsuckers, to determine what 

 nutriment was sought by these species and to learn whether 

 any injury to the tree had been known to result from the 

 habit. 



Mr. W. L. McAtee was the first to assemble the published 

 evidence regarding this and the sapsucking habits of Wood- 

 peckers other than Sapsuckers. This information appears in 

 Biological Survey Bulletin No. 39, "Woodpeckers in their Re- 

 lation to Trees and Wood Products." Wilson, who is quoted 

 by McAtee, says in regard to this habit of the Downy Wood- 

 pecker: — 



In fall he is particularly fond of boring the apple trees for insects, 

 digging a circular hole through the bark, just sufficient to admit his bill, 

 after that a second, third, etc.," in pretty regular horizontal circles round 



1 The cambium layer is the soft substance, underlying the bark, through which the sap flows. 



