Bannertail 



weathering had sweetened them, and 

 now they were toothsome as well as 

 abundant sustenance. 



Another, wholly different food, was 

 added to the list. With the bright spring 

 days the yellow Sapsucker arrived from 

 the South. He is a crafty bird and a 

 lover of sweets. His plan is to drill with 

 his sharp beak a hole deep through the 

 bark of a sugar-maple, so the sap runs 

 out and down the bark, lodging in the 

 crevices ; and not one but a score of trees 

 he taps. Of course the sun evaporates 

 the sap, so it becomes syrup, and even 

 sugar on the edges. This attracts many 

 spring insects, which get entangled in the 

 sticky stuff, and the Sapsucker, going 

 from tree to tree in the morning, feasts 

 on a rich confection of candied bugs. 

 But many other creatures of the woods 

 delight in this primitive sweetmeat, and 

 Bannertail did not hesitate to take it 



[100] 



