YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER. 161 



with arching necks and rapid, taunting cries of 

 chuck* ah, chuck 1 ah, chuck 1 ah, chuck 1 ah, and then 

 circle around the trunk after each other like a 

 pair of hot-headed suitors quarrelling over their 

 lady-love. When they are in a calmer mood their 

 cry, though still emphatic, loses much of its taunt- 

 ing tone, and is more like che whed, che whee 1 , 

 che whee 1 , che whee'. They have a variety of call 

 notes, such as kree, kray ; yah', yah*, and kre 1 ah, 

 all full of spirited emphasis. But their ebullient 

 feelings cannot be expressed in that way ; they 

 must needs take to drumming and tinning. I 

 quote from an account of their performances pub- 

 lished ten years ago by my brother, Dr. C. Hart 

 Merriam. It is interesting to note that their 

 habits have not changed in that time. He says : 

 "At this season scarcely an hour passes from 

 daylight to sunset that one or more cannot be 

 heard drumming with commendable perseverance 

 upon the tin-roofs, eave-troughs, or escape-pipes 

 of our house or some of the out-buildings. They 

 strike the tin violently half a dozen or more times, 

 evidently enjoying the sound thus produced, and 

 then rest a few minutes before repeating the per- 

 formance. Each woodpecker usually returns to 

 the same spot, and on our roc f are several patches 

 the size of one's hand, from which the paint has 

 been entirely drummed off. On the escape-pipe 

 they sometimes follow around a joint, and by con- 

 stant and long-continued pounding so loosen the 



