It is true that thesapsucker catches great numbers of insects, taking them on the wing like a flycatcher.
If these trees are alike in everything except the work of the sapsucker (the only internal difference apparently offsetting his work in part), what inference do we draw as to the effect of his work?
Scientists now do not deny that the sapsucker does harm.
The loss of this elaborated sap is a greater injury than the waste of a far larger quantity of crude sap, so that on the season of the year when the sapsucker digs his holes depends in large measure the amount of damage he does.
We know that the sapsucker eats many insects, but it is impossible to prove that he intended these holes for insect lures.
The sapsucker is a retiring, woodland bird that would hesitate to come into a town garden a mile away from the nearest woods unless to get something he could not find in the woods.
If you will study the picture and the descriptions in the Key to the Woodpeckers, you will be able to recognize the sapsucker and his nearest relatives, whether in the East or in the West.
If our sapsucker was drilling for sap, he arranged his holes so that it would almost run into his mouth, lazy bird!
There remain two points to prove: whether the sapsucker drills his holes for the sake of the sap, or for insects attracted by the sap, provided that he eats anything but the inner bark.
At first sight the Red-breasted Sapsucker might be mistaken for the Red-headed Woodpecker, but the two birds do not inhabit the same country.
As the yellow-bellied sapsucker is the only one found east of the Rocky Mountains, we shall speak only of him and his work.
Our piece of bark has taught us:-- That the sapsucker injured this tree.
I do not remember seeing a sapsucker in the tree in the spring; if he came in the summer, it must have been at rare intervals; but he was always there in the fall, when the leaves were dropping.
But it must be admitted that very rarely does the sapsucker girdle a tree with holes enough to sap away its life.
The sapsucker alone drills rings or belts of holes for the sake of getting at the soft inner bark and drinking the sap that trickles from it.
Before the red-head had shown any signs of exhausting his find, the sapsucker himself appeared, and at once fell upon his bigger cousin with savage cries.
Even the sapsucker from the lawn had somehow heard the news that a feast was spread near the locusts, and came over to see.
While we watched him, he heard outside a sapsucker cry, to which he listened eagerly; then he drummed quite vigorously on the cornice, as if in reply.
On his own trees thesapsucker was not in such haste, but lingered about the prepared rings, evidently taking his pick of the insects attracted there.
It was during the nest-feeding days that we discovered most of the sapsucker homesteads; for, having many nests nearer our own level to study, we never sought them, and noticed them only when the baby voices attracted our attention.
Well, I am called Sapsucker because much, if not most, of my food consists of the secret juices which flow through the entire body of the tree which you probably saw me running up and down and around.
The Sapsucker also eats the soft inner bark which is between the rough outside bark and the hard heart-wood of the tree, which is very harmful.
While this Sapsucker is a winter resident in most portions of Illinois, and may breed sparingly in the extreme northern portion, no record of it has been found.
These the Sapsucker also eats, sweeping them up in the sap with his tongue, which is not barbed like that of other Woodpeckers, but has a little brush on the end of it, shaped something like those we use for cleaning lamp chimneys.
The Red-breasted Sapsucker is a resident of the Pacific Coast, ranging from northern Lower California northward to Southern Alaska.
A sister species of the Sapsucker of our illustration is the beautiful Williamson's Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus thyroideus), an inhabitant of the Pacific coast.
The Yellow-breasted Sapsucker mentioned in the story is the eastern relative of the Red-breasted Sapsucker of our illustration.
This is what the Sapsucker seeks, and upon this alone he can live all summer, as proved by Mr. Frank Bolles, who tells us how he caught and kept young Sapsuckers alive till October, feeding them only on diluted maple syrup.
A direct evidence of this is found in the fact that in localities where the Red-breasted Sapsucker is abundant indications of their work are not usually common.
The tongue of the sapsucker has a brush at the end and is not barbed.
In woodpeckers and swifts the tail feathers are not soft at the end like others, but the stems or shafts project beyond the feathery part, and are stiff like the tail of a sapsucker (Fig.
Sapsucker nest holes and their use by other species.
The female Sapsucker promptly thrust out her head and studied the situation for five minutes or so, after which she dropped back content.
In nesting the Red-naped Sapsucker shows a marked preference for aspen trees and its summer range is practically confined to their vicinity.
Hine, once watched a Sapsucker in early spring for seven hours at a stretch, and during this time the bird did not move above a yard from a certain maple tap from which it drank at intervals.
The western variety of the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker differs only slightly from the eastern bird in appearance, and not at all in disposition.
In the spring we tap the sugar maples, and gather great pailfuls of the sap as it rises from its winter resting-place in the roots, and the sapsucker likes to steal from our pails or to tap the trees for himself.
So the work of the sapsucker is injurious, while the grub-seeking woodpeckers confer only good upon the trees they frequent.
Like other idlers, the sapsucker in its deeds of gluttony and harm brings, if anything, more injury to others than to itself.
The sapsucker is never as confiding as the downy, and from a safe distance sees others murdered for sins which are his alone.
I wish that all Junior Naturalists would try to find out whether even the sapsucker deserves all that has been said against him.
Strange to say the nuthatch has also been confused with the sapsucker and has gained unjust obloquy thereby.
The male sapsucker has a bright red crown and chin and throat, his breast is yellow, and he is also yellowish on the back; while the males of the downy and hairy are red-capped and black and white with no yellow.
Read this Bulletin and answer these questions: Does the sapsucker do more harm than good?
The tattoo of the Sapsucker (which does not nest here) James Whitcomb Riley has aptly characterized as "Weeding out the lonesomeness.
The sapsucker is a woodpecker that has strayed from the paths of virtue; he has fallen into temptation by the wayside, and instead of drilling a hole for the sake of the grub at the end of it he drills it for its own sake.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "sapsucker" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
