20 WOODPECKERS 



scribe both. The former is larger, but its rank as an insect 

 exterminator is a little lower. Its proportion of insect food 

 is 68 per cent, and vegetable 31 per cent. Of the former, 

 ants make up 17 per cent, beetles 24 per cent and caterpillars 



21 per cent. The only cultivated fruits found in 82 stomachs 

 were blackberries; but wild fruits were well represented. 



This bird inhabits practically the same region as the downy 

 woodpecker, and belongs in the ranks of the farmer's best 

 friends. 



THE YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUGKER 1 is practically the only 

 woodpecker which inflicts serious damage upon man's prop- 

 erty; and possibly it may in some localities become so numer- 

 ous as to require thinning out. Any bird which deliberately 

 girdles a tree and kills it is a bird entitled to serious considera- 

 tion, and to punishment according to the actual harm it does. 



This bird eats great quantities of insects, but as dessert it 

 is fond of the sap of certain trees, among which are the maple, 

 birch, white ash, apple, mountain ash and spruce. Into the 

 soft, green bark of these trees this Sapsucker drills small, 

 squarish holes, that look like gimlet holes. Usually they are 

 placed in a horizontal line, and sometimes in mathematical 

 groups. Occasionally several lines of these holes will quite 

 girdle a tree. The bird not only drinks the sap that exudes, 

 but he lies in wait to catch the winged insects and ants that 

 are attracted to the sweet fluid, and devours great numbers of 

 them. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who has closely observed the work 

 of the Sapsucker, states that frequently mountain -ash trees 



1 Sphy-ra-pi'cus va'ri-us. Length, 8.25 inches. 



