. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . es Entomological Commission, quotation from Fitch,p. 740. SONGLJESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 257 not care to take any food but the sap. I could get within six feet ofthe bird without any trouble while it was taking sap. It then left andwent into a large tree, and I lost it; but if I had stayed by the tree Ithink it would have come back before night, as it had done when
. Useful birds and their protection. Containing brief descriptions of the more common and useful species of Massachusetts, with accounts of their food habits, and a chapter on the means of attracting and protecting birds . es Entomological Commission, quotation from Fitch,p. 740. SONGLJESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 257 not care to take any food but the sap. I could get within six feet ofthe bird without any trouble while it was taking sap. It then left andwent into a large tree, and I lost it; but if I had stayed by the tree Ithink it would have come back before night, as it had done when I waswatching it, for it was gone half an hour at one time. The two young trees that were tapped were red maples(^Acer rubrum). The incisions in each case were similar,and from their appearance we may as-sume that the bird first struck its billinto the bark from the right upward,and then fromthe left down-ward, leaving asmall bridge ofbark to coverthe then tookthe sap by in-serting its billat the lowerorifice, a, theupper one, b,allowing thefree entrance ofair to facilitatethe flow of thesap out of thelower at a. The vegetablefood of thisWoodpeckeris varied andrather small inquantity. Inspring it eats a. Fig. 116. Fig. 115. few buds and petals of flowers ; some berries, such as June-berries and wild strawberries, in summer; and in fall andwinter it eats pokeberries, poison ivy, sumac, mullein, andother seeds. Frozen apples are eaten in winter. According 258 USEFUL BIRDS. to Professor Beal, Dr. Merriam found the stomachs of fourbirds filled with beechnuts, and has seen this species eat theberries of the mountain ash. It eats bayberries also. Hairy Woodpecker. Dryobates villosus villosus. Length.—About nine and one-half inches. Adult. — Quite similar to the Downy Woodpecker, hut much larger; the hill pro-portionately — A hole cut In a tree by the — — Resident. The Hairy Woodpecker, like the preceding species, livesto such
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1913
