262 USEFUL BIRDS. 
it winters in considerable numbers, and there bores holes 
into the summer cottages and finds winter shelter in the 
rooms, where it sometimes does some damage by pecking 
at the window sashes and curtains and in other ways. If 
the owners of these cottages had put up a few cheap bird- 
boxes on their buildings or trees, with entrances large 
enough for the Flicker, the birds might have used the 
boxes, and never have contracted the criminal habit of 
breaking and entering. 
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. 
Sphyrapticus varius. 
Length. — About eight and one-half inches. 
Adult Male.— Above, brownish or yellowish, marked with black and white; 
below, yellowish ; sides black-streaked ; a broad white stripe from shoulder 
along the black wing; crown and throat patch crimson; border of both 
patches and line through eye black; a black breast patch ; belly yellowish. 
Adult Female.—Similar, except that the throat patch is whitish, instead of 
scarlet. ; 
Nest and Eggs.— Much like those of other Woodpeckers. 
Season. — Migrates north through the State in April, and south in September and 
October; breeds rarely in Berkshire County. 
There would be no justification for including this hand- 
somely marked bird among the useful species of Massachu- 
setts, except for the fact that in thirty years no instance 
has come to my knowledge of its doing any appreciable 
harm here. There can be no doubt that it has killed trees 
in northern New England, where it breeds; but, as it does 
some good while here by destroying insects, citizens of the 
State can have no shadow of an excuse for destroying any 
Woodpecker, for all the other species that visit this State 
are more useful than this. The red crown and throat, and 
the broad white stripe or patch on the black wing, will dis- 
tinguish it from more useful species. 
CUCKOOS, KINGFISHERS, ETC. 
Kingfishers feed mainly on fish, but occasionally subsist 
very largely on such insects as grasshoppers. These birds 
are no doubt necessary to help maintain the balance of 
nature whenever animals on which they feed tend to in- 
crease beyond normal numbers. They are not of sufficient 
