The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-02-16

asleep. Such Incidence and commanding
must be ruinous to any birds health, or
all our human notions of hygiene are er-
rOneous. l believe in a. leisurely, unhurrled
life, and am perhaps almost too fond OF
preaching its gospel; but not to sit all day
at table guzzling sweetsl
THREE WEEKS FEED.
One thing and another hindered me from
going to the spot again for sixteen days.
Then l stepped up to the tree, and behold,
there We're the two sapsuckers fiattened
against it, exactly as / had left them. No
doubt they had been there day after day
L tarried but a few minutes and saw no
humming bird. One thing did see, though
ii had no connection with the woodpeckers
and their doings. That was a Cape May
warbler. a very choice variety of New
England al any time, and the only one that
1 had ever seen in Franconia, after the
nesting season. To look for one thing is a
good way to find something else. At least
this is true in the practice of field orni-
tholOgy. 1t is one of the great attractions
of that gentle science.
Two days afterwards one sapsucker was
still feeding. That is TO say, I saw one
Rain was falling before reached the rem
devious, and I did nothing more than to
run from the carriage into the swamp and
out again. Without much doubt the bird
had company within hail.
This was on the I'd of September-my first
visit had been on Aug. 70. For three weeks,
then. the birds had been living on those
two birches. Not improbably they had
been doing so for as many weeks before
/ happened to find them. How much longer
bair CT no <,f
telling. 1 went to look for them on Sept II,
and they were gone. BY that time, We
may guess, they were on their way to win
ter quarters, in Mexico. perhaps, or Costa
Rico. or the West Indies, though it is hard
to believe that they could be in prime con-
dition for such journey after a month or
two of uninterrupted "sapsucking.
1t must not be supposed that am writ
ing of this envious habit of the yellow
bellied woodpeoker as if I had discovered
something new. 1 had only discovered it
for myself The very name "sapsucker'
is proof that the birds method of feeding
has long been matter of knowledge.
Frank Boiler, whose untmely death a few
years ago is still deeply lamented by all
American nature lovers, made very patient
and elaborate studies of the subject, es-
peCldlly WITH a view 10 determining Nnel0-
er the birds lived chiefly upon the sap, or.
as some had assumed, upon the insects
which the flowing sap attracted.
He went so far as to shoot several adult
birds while they were living upon such
orchards as l have described and sub
jected their stomachs to examination. Then
he caught three young ones and kept them
in captivity. The first experiment showed
that sap probably the main article
Of diet, while the second proved that the
birds could exist and for a season thrive
on nothing but diluted maple syrup. In
fact, they were only too ready TO do So
They grew inordinately fat, and after about
three months died rather suddenly of ZEN
largement and fatty degeneration of the
liver" So the physician reported to whom
the little brides had been sent for autopsy.
In a wild state a change of season would
have compelled them sooner to adopt a
change of diet. Even in a state of nature
however, as l have already said, the gor-
mandizing of the sapsuckers has all the
appearance of a good thing overdone. If 1
might venture a guess | should say that
the birds would live longer and the species
be more common if they had never discOv-
cred this very luxurious method of SUBJ
sistence. In their case, as in that of hu-
man beings. ease is the mother of disease.
High living is short living.
BRADFORD TORREY.
| Wellesley Hills, Mass.