WOODPECKERS. 



559 



that what the birds obtained was the elaborated sap descending from the leaves 

 through the fibres of the inner bark. I tasted the sap, and found it unmistakably 

 sweet. The leaves on branches above the drills drooped, but those below were in 

 good condition. I watched the drills on this tree from 12.30 P.M. until 2, and from 

 4 until 6 P.M., being concealed in the bushes to the north-west of the tree. During 

 nearly the whole of this period of three and a half hours, one or more woodpeckers 

 were in the tree engaged at the drills: they were a male, female, and two young 

 birds. Four visits were paid by humming-birds in the time named, but the visitors 

 were driven away by the woodpeckers. At 5.30 I shot one of the young birds in 

 order to determine the number of individuals using the ' orchard.' His absence 



RED-HEADED AMERICAN WOODPECKER. 



was unnoticed by the survivors. The next day the male, female, and one 

 young bird were present, the tree being seldom left by all at once. Ten visits 

 were paid by humming-birds ; in five cases they reached the drills, and, hovering, 

 drank sap from one or more of them. In the other cases, the woodpeckers being 

 present, the birds were driven away. The work of the woodpeckers seemed 

 to me, armed as I was with an excellent opera-glass and sitting not more than 

 thirty feet from the drills, to be perfectly plain in character. During the morning 

 the female drilled four or five new holes ; they were above others in perpendicular 

 series, and yielded sap freely. She was closely attended by the young one, who 

 occasionally swallowed pieces of the soft bark, or cambium-layer, taken from the 

 bottom of the drills ; the female also ate some of it. When not drilling or resting, 

 the female dipped sap from the holes near by. The male drilled no holes, but 



m 



