THE WOODPECKERS. 147 
“quite numerous about Lake Tahoe. ... At the lake they were 
quite fearless, coming close to the hotel and industriously tapping the 
trees in the early morning and evening. . . . I noticed their burrows 
in low pine-trees. . . . I found them silent birds, though probably 
in the spring they have a great variety of calls.” 
J. K. Lord records,— 
“ Both when on the wing and when clinging against a tree it con- 
tinually utters a shrill, plaintive cry. Its favorite tree appears to be 
the Pinus contorta, which grows at great altitudes. I do not think 
this woodpecker is found (in British Columbia) except on the hill- 
tops.” 
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a migratory bird, 
and seen in the 
Middle States 
usually only in 
the spring and 
autumn; but 
there are bits of 
territory in these 
States wherein 
the bird is accus- 
tomed to remain 
all summer and 
breed. There has 
been much dis- 
cussion concern- 
ing the habits of S 
this peculiar bird, Yellow-bellied Red-headed 
Sapsucker. Woodpecker. 
for its anatomy is 
not that of other woodpeckers in some respects. 
That it is capable of doing an immense deal of 
harm to trees and does do it seems fully demon- 
strated, and although a great insect-destroyer, this 
