THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER 103 



of these holes, then suck out its juice. Sometimes 

 these birds catch a cherry or a berry on the fly, 

 but usually they alight near enough to it to reach 

 it with their bills. Do they swallow a berry whole ? 

 [Children find out.] Do they carry off a whole 

 cherry? Find out. 



Do you know of anything else that red-heads feed 

 upon ? (Once in a while, but not often, you will find 

 a red-head boring holes into good trees for the sap.) 

 Have you noticed these holes ? How did they look ? 

 (They often extend around the tree in a circle.) It is 

 another woodpecker that does most of the sucking. 

 They suck the sap out of these little wells. After a 

 while the wells fill up again, when the woodpeckers 

 suck them dry as before. What little insects that 

 like sweets do you know ? Where might they go for 

 them? (To these wells.) What might happen to 

 them here? (The red-heads might make a dinner 

 off them.) [Dr. Lockwood thinks this is one of the 

 purposes of these wells.] 



Do you think the red-headed woodpecker is a 

 pretty good bird to have around ? Why? (Review.) 



What is the only harm we have found this wood- 

 pecker doing thus far? Ought we to welcome them 

 when they come back in the spring ? Why? Do they 



