THE OOLOGIST. 



257 



■examined hundreds^of 'these perfora- 

 tions, and the neighboring areas for in- 

 sects, and have never discovered a sin- 

 gle one. 



The Yellow-bellied Sap-sucker is very 

 readily approached at this time, and 

 one can easily get within a few yards 

 without alarming the workman. If we 

 get too near, while the borer is engaged 

 low down on the trunk, he will scuttle 

 to the opposite side of the tree, -'by a 

 series of bide jumps, still keeping the 

 same upright position as regards the 

 body. If forced to leave the. tree, an- 

 other is immediately visited and work 

 renewed on a second series of holes. 



There perforation arc made at a 

 height varing from three to sixty feet to 

 my knowledge. I have frequently ob- 

 serve birds boring at a height of forty 

 to fifty feet. This season I carefully 

 noted the ways of a bird which had 

 made a row of seventeen holes on the 

 south side of a sugar maple a foot or so 

 in diameter, and which stood within a 

 yard of the sidewalk in the city. The 

 holes were bored at a height of four 

 feet, and the bird, in selecting the south 

 side of the tree, was constantly exposed 

 to observation. When a person was 

 passing, the bird would side-hitch' to 

 the north side and return again after 

 the disturber was gone. 



These wounds on the sugar maple, of 

 course produced a fiovv of sap, and the 

 birds regaled themselves on the sweets. 

 There are several other trees which pro- 

 duce sweet sap, and among these is the 

 evergreen, which yields a small amount 

 of very sticky, gummy balsamic liquid. 

 The sap-suckers are very fond of this 

 sap, and will spend more time around 

 a big tree of this species than about the 

 maples. The largest, number of holes 

 which I have counted in a small space, 

 was on a large evergreen where there 

 were over one hundred in an aera of 

 three by eight inches. These holes are 

 generally arranged in rows, and are 

 often quite symmetrical. In one case 



that I examimed there were forty-seven 

 punctures in a space of two by three 

 iuches. The tree had been attacked 

 year after year and the bark gave am- 

 ple evidence of the severe devastation 

 in many parts. 



In attacking the sugar maple, the 

 birds rarely make two rows near to 

 each other on the trunk, but this is fre- 

 quently done on the smaller as well as 

 the larger limbs. The trunk is some- 

 times almost completely girdled with 

 small holes from a quarter to a half 

 inch apart. 



If a bird, or pair them, for they are 

 generally to be seen iu pairs soon after 

 arriving, are watched it will be seen 

 that they* will return to a tree again and 

 again to suck the sap which accumu- 

 lates in the perforations. It takes but 

 a second or so for the bird to introduce 

 the point of its bill and suck all avail 

 able sap — and then to the next hole. 

 After all the perforations have been 

 probed two or three times, the birds 

 fly to the next tree. As a rule a pair of 

 birds have from four to six trees which 

 they visit in regular order the livelong 

 day, but sometimes a single tree with 

 holes at various heights, forms a steady 

 feeding ground. 



At times the Yellow-belly is seen cir- 

 cling about after the manner of the 

 other woodpeckers aud evidently in 

 pursuit of insects, but in these search- 

 ings he is never known to make the 

 chips fly as do nearly all of his relatives. 

 In fact some writers claim that it is not 

 in his nature, owing to a lack in the 

 make-up of his tongue, to feed on in- 

 sects as do the other members of the 

 family. 



The Sap sucker digs a hole for its live 

 to seven crystal white eggs after the 

 manner of its kind. The birds are rare- 

 ly found nesting; south of the forty- 

 fourth parallel. 



It would be an exceedingly interest- 

 ing experiment to secure an adult bird 

 and test its ability to live entirely on 

 sweet sap. 



