THE CALIFORNIAN WOODPECKER. 289 



herded, although I have but very little dread ot 

 farther pursuit. Supped on grilled antelope, and 

 got a few hours' sleep. 



May 2 3rd. All safe ; no sign of being followed. 

 Off at dawn ; fifteen miles more of this horrid 

 waste, and we begin ascending a ridge of moun- 

 tains, which I find is the watershed of the streams 

 flowing; into the Columbia on one side and into 



(^j 



the Klamath river on the other; strike the head- 

 waters of the Des Chutes or Fall river, and camp 

 in a fine grassy prairie belted with pine the 

 Pinus ponderosa. Here I determine to remain two 

 days, to allow resting-time for men and animals. 



m/ ' O 



May 25^A. All wonderfully recruited; rest 

 and good feeding soon repair a healthy body, be it 

 man's or quadruped's. I stroll off with my gun, 

 and observe that numbers of the pine-trees are 

 completely studded with acorns, just as nails 

 with large heads were driven into doors in olden 

 days. I had seen a piece of the bark filled with 

 acorns in San Francisco, and was there informed 

 it was the work of a woodpecker, but, to tell the 

 truth, thought I was being hoaxed ; but here I 

 am in the midst of dozens of trees, with acorns 

 sticking out all over their trunks ; it is no hoax, 

 for I saw the birds that did it, and shot two of 

 them. This singular acorn-storer is the Cali- 



VOL. i. u 



