THE DYING YEAR 



HEN a radical change of habits 

 occurs, as in the sapsucker, de- 

 viating so sharply from the an- 

 cient principles of its family, many 

 other forms of life about it are in- 

 fluenced, indirectly, but in a most inter- 

 esting way. In its tippling operations it wastes 

 quantities of sap which exudes from the numerous 

 holes and trickles down the bark of the wounded 

 tree. This proves a veritable feast for the forlorn rem- 

 nant of wasps and butterflies, the year's end stragglers 

 whose flower calyces have fallen and given place to swel- 

 ling seeds. 



Swiftly up wind they come on the scent, eager as hounds 



281 



