208 YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKEE 



Yellow-bellied Woodpecker ; Sapsucker : 



Sphyrapicus varius. 



(Plate XI.) 



GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. Eastern North America ; breeds 

 from Massachusetts northward, and winters from Virginia to 

 Central America. 



Nuthatches and Downy Woodpeckers are often 

 called Sapsuckers, but the Yellow-bellied Wood- 

 pecker, the one with the red crown and throat, is 

 the only bird that deserves the name. 



The Sapsucker has the habit of drilling holes 

 in the bark of trees, and, as his name indicates, 

 sucks the sap that exudes from the tree. But 

 this is not all, nor does it doom him to disfavor. 

 Now and then an individual Sapsucker may gir- 

 dle and kill an ornamental birch on a lawn ; but 

 for one which does that, numbers are at work 

 destroying the insects that gather at the sap on 

 the hardy forest trees which the Woodpecker will 

 not harm. An observer of his performance says : 

 " As the sap exudes from the newly-made punc- 

 tures, thousands of flies, yellow jackets, and other 

 insects congregate about the place, till the hum 

 of their wings suggests a swarm of bees. If now 

 the tree be watched, the Woodpecker will soon 

 be seen to return and alight over the part of the 

 girdle which he has most recently punctured. 

 Here he remains with motionless body and feeds 

 upon the choicest species from a host of insects 

 within easy reach." 



