Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-07-28
BIRD'S-EYE MAPLE.
Maine Man Has 1000 Woodpeckers
Making Valuable Timber for Him.

Patten (Me) Cor. New York Sun
"Wnen man has spent eighty years and
more than $4,000 in studying the ways of
wild things" said Greenleaf DAVIS, 1t
would seem as If he should know something
about the nature of animals and birds, but
| am obliged to own that l am more ig-
norant today than l was when my father
came here from Massachusetts and built a
sawmill in 1924 when l was nine years old.
He left all his property TO me, including
miles Of timber lands and money IN pahR,
and | have spent all of ii except this spot
where my camp stands.
What have l accomplished? That de-
ponds very much upon how you look at II.
The way the world sees things, my life has
been wasted. Instead of being rich / am
very poor. SO poor that the town keeps me
in the almshouse free of cost through the
cold weather. l have almost assured my
self of very many facts, though L am not
absolutely certain concerning any except
two.
THE first is that every woodpecker that
digs hole in a tree for nest chooses the
east side l have spent more than half
century studying woodpeckers. Within half
a mile of my camp are 612 woodpecker
nests. l have the largest collection of
woodpeckers in the world, though none of
them IL tame or more than half domesti-
Gated. l have spent much as $3.50 in
year buying meat to feed the woodpeckers.
Nobody living or dead has studied the WOOD
peckerS so mucn as l nave, Dut the sum Oh
my knowledge is very small.
II know that these birds insist on having
the holes that enter their nests face the
east because / have waited until the eggs
were laid in the holes In posts I had put
out and then turned the posts about.
have done this when the birds were away,
and never has any bird continued to in
cubate her young when the hole was
changed from due east l think the wood
peckers choose an eastern aspect for the
reason that they can know when the sun is
up. They are all early risers, and having
no alarm clocks they make sun dials of
their nests
MY second discovery is of some CONNER
cial use For hundreds of years lumber
men and cabinet makers have been study
ing to learn what causes maple wood to as
sumo the notified and spotted form known
as bird s-eye In hundred rock maple
trees perhaps one is a bird s-eye. Nobody
can pick the specific tree out by inspecting
the bark or the manner of growth. You
may have to chop 200 trees before you find
one, but it Is worth the sacrifice.
Fact is, the woodpeckers make all the
bird s-eye maple there is in the world. In
flying about the woods they come to rock
maple tree that yields very sweet sap in
the season when sap IS running. Most
birds like sweets-woodpeckers are very
fond of sugar. Having found a tree yielding.
a large per cent Of sugar the birds peck
holes in the trunk and then stand against
the bark and drink the sap as 1t ooZes out
trees have leaved out new wood and bark
form in those small holes. The pecking and
sap gathering goes on for years until the
tree, having given up SO much sap to the
birds, begins to furnish fluid containing less
sugar. In ten twelve years after the
birds quit tree the holes are all grown up
and nobody can pick out the big birds -eyes
from other trees that the woodpeckers did
not visit
More than fifty years ago I started In to
induce the woodpeckers to help me make
bird s-eye NAPLES. This spring l had more
than 1 600 birds in my employ for two
months On the side hill overlooking my
camp are about 800 bird s-eye naples of
my own make. l know every one of them,
though nobody else can guess at the valu-
able trees. If live few years longer
am going to begin cutting. after which
shall have more money than can spend
If die 1 have left record Of every tree
so that the Audubon Society can market
the wood and devote the money to giving
protection to Moodpeckern."