The Red-breasted Sapsuckers 
“These birds are not at all shy during the breeding season, allowing 
you to approach them closely; but they have an extraordinarily keen 
sense of hearing. I frequently tried to sneak up to a tree close to my 
house which I knew had been selected by a pair of these birds, to watch 
them at work, but I was invariably detected by the bird, no matter how 
carefully I tried to creep up, before I was able to get within 30 yards, 
even when she was at work on the inside of the cavity and could not 
possibly see me. The bird would cease working at once, her head would 
pop out of the hole for an instant, and the surroundings be surveyed care¬ 
fully. If I kept out of sight and perfectly still, she would probably begin 
working again a few minutes afterwards, but it I moved ever so little, even 
without making the least noise, in my own estimation, she would notice it 
and stop working again at once. If the tree were approached too closely, 
she would fly oft. uttering at the same time a note resembling the word 
‘jay,’ or ‘chae,’ several times repeated, which would invariably bring the 
male around also, who had in the meantime kept himself busy in some 
other tree, either drumming or hunting for food. While the female was at 
work on the inside of the excavation, the male would fly to the entrance, 
from time to time, and look in, probably asking his mate how her work was 
coming on, how soon they might begin housekeeping, etc.; and at other 
times he would hang, for five or ten minutes even, just below the entrance 
to the burrow, in a dreamy sort of study, perfectly motionless and seem¬ 
ingly dazed, evidently thinking of the family responsibilities that were 
soon to come.” 
‘‘Family responsibilities” (or at least oological opportunities) trans¬ 
pire about the last week in May or the first in June. Aspen trees are 
again leading candidates for favor; and by far the easiest way to make 
nest locations is to look about at the foot of the trees for fresh chips. 
From these we learn that the birds require a fresh domicile each season. 
After the nest is roughed out, the interior surface is carefully smoothed 
off, and the chippings, no more pretentious than sawdust, are allowed to 
fall into the bottom of the cavity to provide a soft cushion for the eggs. 
Incubation lasts from twelve to fourteen days, and the male bird does his 
full share of the work. A tell-tale spot, moreover—a rounded, polished 
area, about the size of a dollar, appearing on the trunk of the host tree 
some four inches below the nesting hole—shows where a bird’s tail- 
feathers are wont to rest, and supports the idea that the male Sapsucker 
loiters about on the doorstep a good deal, chinning with his spouse. 
This Sapsucker’s eggs, five, six, or even seven in number, are remark¬ 
able among woodpeckers’ eggs not alone for their transparency—the 
outlines of the yolks are plainly visible from the outside in fresh eggs— 
but for the varying texture of their shells,—an effect as of water-marked 
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