&26 BIKDS 



Plains. In summer it may be found occasionally in the 

 northern portions of Illinois and Indiana. Quite a few of 

 the birds nest in the vicinity of Detroit, Michigan, and I 

 have personally observed them during the breeding months 

 in northern Wisconsin. Fifteen years ago the yellow-bellied 

 sapsucker nested along the river bottoms of the Illinois and 

 Kankakee rivers, but to-day they are rarely seen during the 

 breeding season in this latitude. By many ornithologists 

 the yellow-bellied sapsucker is considered the handsomest of 

 our American woodpeckers. 



The woodpeckers of this genus are the only ones to 

 which the term sapsucker may with any propriety be 

 applied. They lack the long, extensile tongue which enables 

 the other species to probe the winding passages made by 

 larvae. The sapsuckers are found feeding largely upon the 

 sap and inner bark of trees; they also feed upon insects 

 attracted by the sap. In some localities they injure valu- 

 able timber by chipping off bark and girdling the trunk and 

 larger limbs with small holes. This handsome bird devours 

 many insects, but its fondness for the sap of trees, including 

 apple and other orchard trees, with its habit of cutting out 

 sections of the bark to obtain its favorite tipple, renders it 

 injurious in some localities. It is one of a number of birds 

 that are harmful and beneficial by turns, or according to 

 locality. Little blame attaches to the orchardist who black- 

 Ksts the sapsucker, but he should familiarize himself with 

 the other woodpeckers, that he may distinguish this from 

 other kinds. 



The birds often excavate a nesting site in living trees, 

 but in the mountainous regions of New Hampshire and 



