366 Trees, Stars, and Birds 



Have you known nickers to make openings through 

 the roofs or sides of a building ? Do they ever drum on 

 metal? Do they often occupy artificial nesting sites? 



The yellow-bellied sapsucker. The amateur may 

 mistake this woodpecker for the downy or hairy wood- 

 pecker. It is larger than the former and smaller than 

 the latter. It differs from both in having the crown of 

 both sexes crimson, though not always so in the female. 

 In the downy and hairy woodpecker there is less red, 

 the red is farther back, and is found only on the male. 

 The male sapsucker has the throat red, the female has 

 it white. A white stripe runs lengthwise on each wing, 

 but there is no broad white stripe along the middle 

 of the back as in the downy and hairy woodpeckers. 

 The sapsucker differs from these also in having a slight 

 yellowish tinge to the plumage. 



Sapsuckers spend the summer in Canada and the 

 northernmost states, and winter from the Ohio Valley 

 to the Gulf. Many people have a chance to see them 

 only in the spring or fall, when they are migrating and 

 are likely to be very noticeable. 



If there is a variety of trees within a short distance 

 of your home, you will not need to search long to find 

 one that shows holes made by sapsuckers. A single 

 apple, birch, or cedar tree may show more than a thou- 

 sand holes made by sapsuckers in the course of years. 

 In April or May you can see fresh holes among them. 

 Perhaps your attention will be attracted by a large area 

 of bark wet with sap. At the top of this wet area you 

 will see sapsuckers' holes. They extend merely through 

 the bark. After visiting one set of holes and drinking 



