96 



WOODPECKERS IN" EELATION TO TREES. 



cambium, the securing of which results in serious damage, as shown 

 in the preceding pages. 



HOW TO RECOGNIZE SAPSUCKERS. 



Plate I (frontispiece) and Plate II (p. 16) will serve to identify 

 the sapsuckers better than pages of printed descriptions, and there- 

 fore only a few marked color differences will be mentioned here. All 

 sapsuckers have yellow bellies, few other woodpeckers have; all sap- 

 suckers have a conspicuous white patch on the upper part of the 

 wing, as seen from the side when clinging to a tree; white wing 

 patches in other woodpeckers are on the middle or lower part of the 



wings. The yellow- 

 bellied sapsucker of 

 transcontinental 

 range is the only 

 woodpecker having 

 the front of the head 

 (i. e., from bill to 

 crown) red in combi- 

 nation with a black 

 patch on the breast. 

 The red-breasted sap- 

 sucker lives west of 

 the Rockies and is 

 the only species there 

 having the whole 

 head and throat red. 

 From 4 to 11 spe- 

 cies of woodpeckers 

 other than sapsuck- 

 ers occur in various 

 sections of the United 

 States; hence a majority of woodpeckers seen are not sapsuckers. 

 Several of these species are illustrated (figs. 38 to 44), and notes are 

 given on the features distinguishing them from sapsuckers. 



Fig. 42. — Hairy woodpecker. 



Not a sapsucker. 



No black breast spot. 



DEFENSIVE MEASURES AGAINST SAPSUCKERS. 



Mr. C. G. Bates says of the eastern bird: 



The sapsucker spends only his winters in the hardwood region, and the greatest 

 damage is done on warm winter days and in the spring just before migration. For 

 this reason hickories should not be planted, especially in the South, in situations 

 where they will be started by the first warm days, but rather where their rise of sap 

 will be retarded. 



