Birds and Forest Vegetation 509 



shore in an open place. Two distinct patches of injury are shown 

 in figure 163, one just above the hat and the other at the upper 

 end of the large scar near the base of the tree. Upon a large tree, 

 felled near the logging camp on Sucker Brook, was found a branch, 

 with the old injured bark showing the characteristic sapsucker-scars, 

 upon which, as the wound healed, it had encroached. A beech log 

 about 7 inches in diameter was found with extensive girdling 

 around about three-quarters of the trunk. The attack had been 

 severe, and large rectangular areas had been bored out in an irreg- 

 ular fashion. 



A dead, fungus-infested hard maple was found north of Camp in 

 the cut-over forest — was about half girdled for a vertical distance 

 of nearly six inches. At about six and a half feet above the ground, 

 where the tree had a diameter of three inches, the girdling was 

 complete for a vertical distance of about a foot. 



The favorite haunts of these Sapsuckers are of special impor- 

 tance, because they give an idea of the conditions where injury is 

 likely to be the greatest. Bolles ('91, p. 257) states that "their 

 favorite haunts are mixed growths of young birch, larch, hemlock, 

 maple, and white ash bordering water or wet places ;" and Eaton 

 ('14, p. 151) remarks: "In the Adirondacks I noticed that they 

 seemed to prefer beeches, birches and maples for nesting sites. The 

 nest is almost always built under the shelter of the forest and not 

 in clearings, as in the case with Red-headed Woodpeckers and 

 Flickers." These limited observations are enough to show that this 

 bird, which is reputed to be the most abundant Woodpecker in the 

 Adirondacks. is exerting considerable influence upon the forests. 

 But to justly estimate this influence it is necessary to include the 

 observations made by others on the activities of this species. 



An excellent account of the habits of Adirondack Sapsuckers has 

 been given by Dr. C. Hart Merriam ('79, pp. 3-5) as follows: " In 

 the Adirondack region, during the migrations, they outnumber all 

 the other species of the family together, and throughout the entire 

 summer are second in numbers only to the Hairy Woodpecker 

 (Picus villosus). Here they often, in search for insects, strip off 

 the ' shag-bark ' from the spruce, and it is no uncommon thing, in 

 passing through these primeval forests, to meet with many large 

 trees thus almost comnletely denuded of their outer bark for nearly 

 the entire length of the trunk. These trees are very conspicuous 

 objects, and never fail to excite the curiosity of strangers, who are 

 much more willing to believe the existing condition ' due to the 

 ravages of the Black Cock of the Woods ( Hylatomus pileatus) or 

 Porcupine (Erethizon dorsatus)' than to the present innocent-look- 

 ing species. 



" In the central district they really do considerable mischief In- 

 drilling holes in the bark of apple, thorn-apple, and mountain-ash 

 trees in such a way as to form girdles of punctures., sometimes two 

 feet or more in breadth (up and down), about the trunks and 

 branches. Whether in like manner they affect trees (excepting 

 occasionally a young elm) pertaining to other genera than the one 



