Yellow -Bellied Sapsucker 



191 



are formed, and rings of sprouts will appear below the circle of holes made 

 on some trees. 



In his summary Mr. McAtee says in part: 



"However strong seems the indictment against the Sapsuckers, it must 

 not be imagined that every tree pecked by them is dcjomed. On the contrary, 

 they frequently work on a tree year after year with(jut noticeably diminishing 

 its vitality. Near Washington the writer has noted large elms whose trunks 

 have evidently been attacked by many generations of Sapsuckers and are 

 freely drilled every year, but which to all appearances are now in perfect health. 

 W. A. Taylor, of the Division of Pomology in the Department of Agriculture, 

 states that at his home in southwestern Michigan there are several apple trees, 

 now over seventy years old, which are known to have been yearly drilled }>y 

 Sapsuckers without diminishing their vigor or productiveness. The western 

 half of the Department of Agriculture grounds at Washington contains 232 

 trees, of which 56 have been attacked by Sapsuckers. Only one of these gives 

 external evidence of injury, an English walnut, one limb of which has been 

 partly killed, and only a few are noticeably disfigured." 



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