TKEES ATTACKED BY YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKEB. 21 



from the pine, and it then appears quite clean. The resin flows from the wounds the 

 bird has made and forms milky streaks and gummy excrescences later in the season 

 which look unsightly. . . . The pines are weakened, their tops girdled until they 

 become bent and even blown off by the wind. Apple trees and choice maples are 

 seriously damaged. ... I have counted six of these birds at one time on a dozen 

 sugar maples in front of one lot in my own town, and have seen the sap flow in a stream. 1 



Dr. P. R. Hoy gives evidence of damage by yellow-bellied sap- 

 suckers. In 1865 he wrote as follows: 



They . . . energetically attack the maple, mountain ash, pine, spruce, pear, apple, 

 plum, cherry, peach, and silver poplar, . . . ironwood, wild cherry, and basswood. 

 ... It is during the autumnal visit that they do the greatest damage; for in spring, 

 when the vital forces of vegetation are unusually active, the tree recovers more cer- 

 tainly from the wounds inflicted, while in the fall, vegetable life being less active, the 

 septa between the punctures are more likely to dry, leaving the tree dead or crippled 

 for life. The sapsuckers attack the most thrifty trees, but after they have suffered a 

 siege from these sapsuckers, they are thrifty no more. If not killed, they are so stunted 

 that they fall an easy prey to the bark lice, . . . for when an orchard tree is enfeebled 

 from any cause, bark lice are sure to finish the work. . . . The damage done by these 

 birds to orchards and ornamental grounds is considerable, second only to that of the 

 bark louse. There is not a garden or orchard of anysize in the vicinity of Racine [Wis.] 

 that has not lost trees killed by the sapsucker. 2 



The instances above cited are sufficient to show that sapsuckers 

 materially injure or even kill many trees of a wide variety of species. 

 Subjoined are lists of the trees attacked by the three species of sap- 

 suckers as complete as present information permits. 



TREES ATTACKED BY THE YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER. 



(Sphyrapicus varius.) 



In these lists field notes on damage to certain trees are given, with 

 locality and name of observer. The writer is responsible for cita- 

 tions with localities only (most of which are vouched for by specimens 

 in the Biological Survey), for unsigned field notes, and for records of 

 specimens in museums. The following abbreviations are used: A. A., 

 Arnold Arboretum; A. M., American Museum of Natural History; 

 F., Field Museum of Natural History; H., Hopkins collection. These 

 symbols are accompanied by the numbers of the specimens in these 

 wood collections. Notes from published sources are followed by the 

 name of the author, and the bibliography following the lists supplies 

 the complete references. The exception is a paper read by Dr. A. D. 

 Hopkins before the Biological Society of Washington, which, although 

 unpublished, is inserted in the bibliography. We are under the 

 greatest obligations to Dr. Hopkins, who has furnished a vast amount 

 of valuable data on sapsucker work. The scientific names of the trees 

 agree in the main with those of Britton's North American Trees. 3 



i Indiana Dept. Geol., Annual Report 22 (for 1S97). pp. 835-6, 1898. 

 s Trans. 111. State Agr. Soc, V, 731-2, 1865. 

 3 Britton, N. L., New York, 1908, pp. 894. 



