134 THE BIRDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



leaves. The eggs are either three or four in number, of 

 a light brownish drab, with black and brownish spots and 

 blotches becoming confluent at the larger end, and one 

 and one third by one inch in size. 



The birds breed in the far north and spend the winter 

 in eastern South America. They are never very common 

 in New Jersey and appear only during the migrations in 

 the early part of May and again from July 15 to Septem- 

 ber 15. They frequent the sea coast, but are also seen 

 along muddy flats and in shallow pools. 



Their food consists of aquatic insects and small shell- 

 fish. 



Sapsucker, or Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. 



Length, eight and a half inches; extent, fifteen inches; 

 bill, nine- tenths of an inch. The whole crown is a rich 

 and deep scarlet, bordered with black on each side and be- 

 hind, forming a slight crest, which the bird frequently 

 erects; from the nostrils, which are thickly covered with 

 hairs, a narrow strip of white runs downward, curving 

 around the breast, mixing with the yellowish white on 

 the lower parts of the breast; throat, the same deep scar 

 let as the crown, bordered with black and spreading into 

 a broad rounding patch on the breast, a line of white and 

 below it another of black proceed, the first from the up- 

 per part of the eye, the other from the posterior part of 

 the eye, and both lose themselves on the neck and the 

 back; back, dusky yellow, sprinkled and waved with 

 black; wings, black, with large spots of white; rump, 

 white, bordered with black; belly, yellow; sides under the 

 wings, more dusky yellow, marked with long arrow- 

 heads of black; legs and feet, greenish blue; tail, black, 

 the two outer feathers on each side tipped with white, 

 the next totally black, the fourth edged on its inner vane 

 half way down with white, the middle one white on its 

 interior vane and spotted with black. The female differs 

 in having the throat white and the crown black, while the 



