22 Our Field and Forest Trees 



sap and bark, many students of birds and their 

 ways believe that he digs these holes mainly to 

 get bait. We read: "As soon as the sweet sap 

 flows into the honey-pots, insects gather in swarms 

 about them and the bird returns again and again 

 to his tree, gathering the insects that have been 

 caught in the sticky little cups, or snapping them 

 from the air " (Fig. 9). 



On standing trunks which have been softened 

 by decay, one may see holes as large as a man's 

 two fists, dug into the punky wood. These have 

 been made by woodpeckers, seeking the grubs 

 which eat dead timber. 



When the trees are bare we may notice that 

 the trunks of some trees are twisted all the way 

 up; this is most easily noticed upon trunks that 

 have lost their bark. A twist like this goes all 

 through the wood. Such trunks cannot be cut up 

 into boards, but though they are unfit for the 

 sawmill, they can be made useful as telegraph 

 and telephone poles. Lumbermen say that such a 

 twist In timber is caused by the wind rocking the 

 tree when it is young and tender. 



As the last leaves fall, the buds, where next 

 year's leaves and flowers are folded away, show 

 plainly on otherwise naked branches. Some of 

 these, alas, will be opened by brute force before 

 spring comes, and their contents will be eaten. 



When the berries are gone, and the seed-laden 

 weed tops are buried in snow, birds sometimes 



