74 Handbook of Nature-Study 



birch. They nest only in the Northern United States and northward. 

 The nest is usually a hole in a tree about forty feet from the ground, and 

 is likely to be in a dead birch. 



LESSON XV 

 The Sapsucker 



Leading thought — The sapsucker has a red cap, a red bib and a yel- 

 low breast; it is our only woodpecker that does injury to trees. We 

 should learn to distinguish it from the downy and hairy, as the latter are 

 among the best bird friends of the trees. 



MetJiods — Let the observations begin with the study of the trees which 

 have been attacked by the sapsucker, which are almost everywhere 

 common, and thus lead to an interest in the culprit. 



Observations — i. Have you seen the work of the sapsucker? Are 

 the holes drilled in rows completely around the tree? If there are two 

 rows or more, are the holes set evenly one below another? 



2. Do the holes sink into the wood, or are they simply through the 

 bark? Why does it injure or kill a tree to be girdled with these holes? 

 Have you ever seen the sapsuckers making these holes? If so, how did 

 they act? 



3. How many kinds of trees can you find punctured by these holes? 

 Are they likely to be young trees? 



4. How can you distinguish the sapsucker from the other wood- 

 peckers? How have the hairy and downy which are such good friends of 

 the trees been made to suffer for the sapsucker's sins? 



5. What is the color of the sapsucker as follows: Forehead, sides 

 of head, back, wings, throat, upper and lower breast? What is the 

 difference in color between the male and female? 



6. In what part of the country do the sapsuckers build their nests? 

 Where do they make their nests and how? 



Supplementary reading — Bird Neighbors, Blanchan; Birds, Bees and 

 Sharp Eyes, John Burroughs. 



In the following ivintcr the same bird (a sapsucker) tapped a maple-tree in front 

 of my window in fifty-six places; and, whoi the day was sunny and the sap oozed out 

 he spent most of his time there. He knew the good sap-days, and was on hand promptly 

 for his tipple; cold and cloudy days he did not appear. He k}iew which side of the 

 tree to tap, too, and avoided the sunless northern exposure. When one series of well- 

 holes failed to supply him, he luould sink another, drilling through the bark with great 

 ease and quickness. Then, when the day was warm, and the sap ran freely, he would 

 have a regular sugar-maple debauch, sitting there by his wells hour after hour, and as 

 fast as they became filled sipping out the sap. This he did in a gentle, carressing 

 manner that was very suggestive. He made a row of wells near the foot of the tree, and 

 other rows higher up, and he would hop up and doivn tlw trunk as they became filled. — 

 Winter Neighbors, John Burroughs. 



