YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER, OR 

 SAPSUCKER 



Male — Upper parts and wings black and white; top of 

 head and throat bright red; breast black; under parts tinged 

 with lemon-yellow ; sides black and white. Female — Same as 

 male except the throat which is white. Length, eight and one- 

 half inches. 



The nest is built in a high cavity of a decayed tree in an 

 orchard or a woods. The entrance is circular and just large 

 enough to admit the birds. The cavity worked out by the 

 parent birds is twelve to fifteen inches deep. The chips made 

 in pecking out the hole form the nest. Eggs, white, four to 

 seven, .85 x .60 inches. 



The Sapsucker is a common summer visitor in the North. 

 After wintering in the Southern States from Virginia south- 

 ward, it appears here in March and remains until October. 

 None need fail to see it, for it is abundant in the country and 

 it comes fearlessly into large cities whei^ even the noise of a 

 thousand children at play in a school yard will not frighten it 

 away. 



Like other Woodpeckers, it delights in grubs found in 

 trees. Faithfully it will explore a tree, pecking away vigor- 

 ously as it winds a spiral course from bottom to top. Then it 

 will fly away to other trees where it repeats the search over and 

 over. It also feeds upon the sap of maple and birch trees. It 

 will drill a hole through the bark of one of these trees when 

 the sap is flowing and greedily drink it as it comes from the 

 wound. Not content with tapping the tree once, it makes a 



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