WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. 19 



YELLOAV-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, YELLOW-BELLIED 

 WOODPECKER. 



iSummer resident throughout the state except the very soutitern 

 part; length eight and one-half inches; sexes much alike; nest a deep 

 cavity in a tree trunk ^ the bottom softened with fine chips; eggs five 

 to i,even. 



A.S shown in the cut, the striking features of the male sapsucker 

 are the bright scarlet on crown and throat, the double band, black and 

 white, bordering the throat patch and the long white bar on the side 

 of the wing. The female's throat is white and the crown is some- 

 times black. 



How well this woodpecker shows the marks of his family ! His posi- 

 tion on the tree says — woodpecker; his strong sharp, pick-axe-like bill 

 says-— woodpecker; his toes — two in front and two behind — say wo> vd- 

 ]}pcker, and even his tail with its stiff feathers braced against the bark 

 for a support tells the same tale. 



If you would know the sapsucker when you see him^ remember that 

 long white bar on the side of the wing. You can see this bar as far 

 as you can see the bird, and frequently when the scarlet crown and 

 throat can not be seen. It is not easy to confus© the sapsucker with 

 the red-headed woodpecker — as some do — if one remembers that while 

 the whole head and neck of the red-head are red, only the crown and- 

 throat of the sapsucker are red. In parts of the country the sapsucker 

 is appropriatelj'' called the red-throated woodpecker. 



This last name is more fitting than yellow-bellied woodpecker, there 

 is so little yfiUow on the under parts, but the name that fits him best 

 is the one that he has earned — sapsucker. He arrives in Wisconsin 

 late in March or ^arly in April soon after the sap has begun to flov^' 

 iu the trees. The hard or sugar maple seemxs to be his favorite tree 

 and he promptly goes to work digging holes in the bark, often rows 

 of holes half way or more around the tree. These pits soon fill witb 

 sap and he delights in emptying his little artesian wells. He some- 

 times sits near a hole for hours at a time collecting the sap as it comes, 

 more frequently he goes from hole to hole or from tree to tree. 



But, does he dig holes only in the maple? Look at the basswood! 

 No wonder the little boy wondered if it had had the smallpox ! Look 

 at the poplar, birch, hickory^ apple and slippery elm trees ! Evidently 

 he is fond of the juicy inner bark of these trees for their holes do net 

 fill with sap as those of the maple do. These trees give our well 

 digger meat only while the maple gives him meat and drink. 



The sapsucker is not the only one to sip the sugar water from the 

 flowing wells. Butterflies, moths, Avasps, flies and bees, pressed by 

 hunger and finding flowers few and far betvv^een at this early day find 

 there an abundant supply of food. Their presence is not at all dis- 



