SOME OF THE WILD THINGS 



woodpeckers should tap the trees for his bene- 

 fit. 



The drills made by the woodpecker extended 

 through the outside bark and into the cam- 

 bium layer. From my observation with a good 

 glass, during several seasons, I found that the 

 woodpeckers were after the elaborated sap 

 that descends from the leaves, through the 

 inner bark, and did not extend the drills into 

 the wood where they would reach the crude 

 sap flowing up from the roots. The wisdom 

 of this procedure was evident. The elaborated 

 sap is far richer in nutriment than the crude 

 sap, and the woodpeckers knew more about 

 the growth of trees than many human beings, 

 so worked understandingly. 



Each drill is made deep enough to hold 

 about two drops of sap. The upper drills 

 are the only ones to afford sap, which proves 

 that it is certainly the elaborated sap flowing 

 down from the leaves that the birds get. 



I had read in works on ornithology that the 

 woodpeckers tapped trees so that the sap 

 would attract insects upon which they could 

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