THE SAPSUCKEE 



213 



The Hairy Woodpecker 1 is so closea coun- 

 terpart of the downy, in appearance and habits, 

 that it is unnecessary to describe both. The 

 former is larger, but its rank as an insect exter- 

 minator is a little lower. Its proportion of in- 

 sect food is 68 per cent, and vegetable, 31 per 

 cent. Of the former, ants make up 17 per cent, 

 beetles 24 per cent, and caterpillars 21 per cent. 

 The only cultivated fruits found in eighty-two 

 stomachs were blackberries ; but wild fruits were 

 well represented. 



This bird inhabits practically the same region 

 as the downy woodpecker, and belongs in the 

 ranks of the farmer's best friends. 



The Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker 3 is prac- 

 tically the only woodpecker which inflicts serious 

 damage upon man's property; and possibly it 

 may in some localities become so numerous as to 

 require thinning out. Any bird which deliber- 

 ately girdles a tree and kills it is a bird entitled 

 to serious consideration, and punishment ac- 

 cording to the harm it does. 



This bird eats great cjuantities of insects, but 

 as dessert it is fond of the sap of certain trees, 

 among which are the maple, birch, white ash, 

 apple, mountain-ash and spruce. Into the soft, 

 green bark, of these trees, this Sapsucker drills 

 small, squarish holes, that look like gimlet holes. 

 Usually they are placed in a horizontal line, 

 and sometimes in mathematical groups. Oc- 

 casionally several lines of these holes will quite 

 girdle a tree. The bird not only drinks the sap 

 that exudes, but he lies in wait to catch the 

 winged insects and ants that are attracted to the 

 sweet fluid, and devours great numbers of them. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam, who has closely observed 

 the work of the Sapsucker, states that frequently 

 mountain-ash trees are girdled to death by this 

 bird, but that trees of greater endurance, like 

 the apple and thorn-apple, are more able to sur- 

 vive its attacks. Another observer, Mr. Frank 

 Bolles, declares that in well-wooded regions the 

 damage it does is too insignificant to justify its 

 destruction. Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright states 

 that in Connecticut "where these birds are plen- 

 tiful, many orchard-owners cover the tree- 

 trunks with fine wire netting." 



"This species," says Professor Beal, "is prob- 

 ably the most migratory of all our woodpeckers, 



1 Dry-o-ba'tes vilAo'sus. Length, 10.50 inches. 



2 Sphy-ra-pi'cus va'ri-us. Length, 8.25 inches. 



breeding only in the most northerly parts of the 

 United States, and in some of the mountains 

 farther south. In the fall it ranges southward, 

 spending the winter in most of the eastern states. 

 It is less generally distributed than some of the 

 other woodpeckers, being quite unknown in 

 some sections, and very abundant in others." 



In its general color-scheme, this is a bird of 

 many and much-mixed colors — black, white and 

 yellowish indescribably varied — both above 

 and below. The top of the head and the throat 



DOWNY WOODPECKER. 



are bright red; and the sides of the head have 

 two broad streaks of white, and two of black. 

 The name of the bird is derived from the pre- 

 dominating greenish-yellow color of its breast 

 and abdomen. 



The Pacific coast has the Red-Naped Sap- 

 sucker, a subspecies of the above, of similar tree- 

 girdling habits; the Red-Breasted Sapsucker, one 

 of the commonest woodpeckers found from 

 Oregon to Lower California, and two others, — 

 the Northern Red-Breasted and Williamson's. 



