9 
of other birds; also of attacking young birds and poultry and pecking 
out their brains, but as the stomachs showed little evidence to substan- 
tiate this charge it is probable that the habit is rather exceptional. 
It has been customary to speak of the smaller woodpeckers as “sap- 
suckers,” under the belief that they drill holes in the bark of trees for 
the purpose of drinking the sap and eating the inner bark. Close obser- 
vation, however, has fixed this habit upon only one species, the yellow- 
bellied woodpecker, or sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) (fig 5). This bird 
has been shown to be guilty of pecking holes in the bark of various forest. 
trees, and sometimes in that of apple trees, from which it drinks the sap 
= CL 
SS. 
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SS 
WS 
WS 
S SS 
SSSc* 
= Sy 
Fic, 4.—Red-headed woodpecker. 
when the pits become filled. It has been proved, however, that besides 
taking the sap the bird captures large numbers of insects which are 
attracted by the sweet fluid, and that these form a very considerable 
portion of its diet. In some cases the trees are injured by being thus 
punctured, and die in a year or two, but since comparatively few are 
touched the damage is not great. It is equally probable, moreover, that 
the bird fully compensates for this injury by the insects it consumes. 
The vegetable food of woodpeckers is varied, but consists largely of 
small fruits and berries. The downy and hairy woodpeckers eat such 
fruits as dogwood, Virginia creeper, and others, with the seeds of 
