86 LIFE HTSTOEIES OF ]S^OETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Mr. Manly Hardy, of Brewer, Maine, writes me as follows about this spe- 

 cies: "Though not generally considered as a very hardy bird, they are really 

 one of our very eai'liest migrants to arrive here in the spring. I have heard 

 them drumming- in March, when the thermometer was from 15° to 20° below 

 zero, just as soon as the first sign of sunrise could be noticed, on one of the 

 very coldest mornings I ever experienced. I have sometimes been inclined to 

 the belief that some of them hibernated in hollow trees and passed the winter 

 with us. They have spoiled several trees in m^- garden. Formerly I alwavs 

 protected them, and did not alloAv them to be molested; but 1 find that con- 

 fidence in them has been misj^laced. They destroyed a large, handsome moun- 

 tain ash tree in my yard, and I believe another will die. I have onh" saved 

 the trees by killing every Sapsucker coming near them. Where they only 

 partly circle the tree it only stops its growth, but where thev entii-ely girdle 

 a limb or the trunk in several places, and close tog-ether, it stops the flow of the 

 sap and it soon dies. I have examined into the matter verv closelv and there 

 is no doubt of the cause." 



I consider the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker tlie commonest Woodpecker in 

 the Adirondack wilderness, in New York. Its ordinarv call note is a whining 

 "whaee," and it utters a number of other sounds, some of these resembling the 

 calls of the Blue Jay, and others those of the Red-shouldered Hawk. During 

 the mating season, when the sexes are chasing each other, a series of notes like 

 "hoih-hoih,"' a nmnber of times repeated, are frequently heard. Although gen- 

 erally disposed to be more or less noisy, while clinging to their food trees they 

 are nearly always silent as far as my observations go. On June 25, 1892, in 

 the woods in Herkimer County, New York, I noticed a series of diinking holes 

 in a sugar maple standing close to the edg-e of a swamp, which ran up and 

 down, on one side of the tree only, for a distance of 3 feet. These di-inkiug 

 places were visited by different birds at short intervals. All were silent while at 

 the tree, excepting onCj a male, which always made a peculiar snorting- or pur- 

 ring sound when alighting. There were three rows of holes, each about an inch 

 apart, running parallel to each other, and these were separated about every 6 

 inches by an untouched space some 3 inches wide. On June 24, 1892, I noticed 

 a nest of this species in the trunk of a dead maple, about 40 feet from the 

 ground, near Wilmm-t, New York. It contained nearly full-grown young, which 

 kept up an almost constant clamor for food wliile I was watching them. In the 

 Adirondacks they prefer ash and butternut trees to nest in, but elms, birches, and 

 maples are also fi-equently selected for this purpose, while in the river bottoms 

 in Illinois and Indiana they often breed in willows or cottonwoods. Solid dead 

 trees seem to be preferred; if a living one is selected it is usuallv one in which 

 the core is decayed. The nesting sites vary from 8 to 50 feet in height from the 

 ground, being- usually about 25 feet up, and these are either excavated in a dead 

 limb or the main trunk of the ti-ee ; if in the latter, frequentl v directlv under 

 a limb, Avhich affords some protection against storms. They are rather tame 

 and fearless about their homes, and generally allow themselves to be closely 

 approached. 



