SAPSUCKERS AND THEIR GUESTS. 151 



was flowing. The tree looked in better condi- 

 tion than in July or August. Great numbers 

 of hornets were in control of the tree. A few 

 butterflies hovered near, but were driven away 

 by the quarrelsome hornets. 



On May 1, 1891, I took advantage of a brief 

 trip to Chocorua to visit Orchard No. 1. The 

 sapsuckers were there and had evidently been at 

 work several days. The red maple, their princi- 

 pal tree, was covered with flowers above the belt 

 of drills, and with newly opened leaves on its 

 lower limbs. The female was dipping at a series 

 of new drills which had been opened two feet 

 above the old belt. Forty-three holes had been 

 cut on the trunk and nearly as many more on 

 several adjoining limbs. Sap was flowing from 

 the upper holes only, and not in abundance. It 

 was slightly sweet. The male came to the tree 

 once during my stay of half an hour, but he 

 spent most of his time on a poplar a few rods 

 distant, where he was digging his family man- 

 sion. The poplar was a vigorous tree, about 

 forty feet in height. The hole was on the south- 

 east side of the trunk a little more than twenty 

 feet from the ground. It seemed to be already 

 four or five inches deep. The birds were noisy, 

 especially so when the female went to inspect the 

 male's digging, and when the male came for a 

 moment to the drills. Only two sapsuckers ap- 



