1899.J VAN DENBUROH BIRDS OF SANTA CLARA CO., CAL. 16(^ 



Sphyrapicus ruber. Red-breasted Sapsucker. 



My first bird of this species was seen and shot at Los Gatos, No- 

 vember 6, 1892. It was an adult male in high plumage. I saw 

 another at Palo Alto on December 8 of the same year. Two were 

 killed by others during that winter. I have seen none since. 



Melanerpes formicivoriis bairai, California Woodpecker. 



At Palo Alto this bird is the commonest of its tribe, and num- 

 bers of its storage trees may be seen. One large oak at Stanford Uni- 

 versity contained fully five thousand acorns. All that I examined 

 had been placed, apex inward, in holes which had been drilled 

 just through the bark to the hard wood. Usually but one acorn 

 was placed in a hole, but in some instances several were wedged 

 in together. The holes made by the birds are often very close 

 together. This particular tree has been studded from within about 

 six inches of the ground to about thirty-five feet above it. It has 

 been suggested, perhaps not seriously, that the birds store the acorns 

 in order to procure the larvae which develop in them. October 

 2, 1892, I gathered twelve acorns from the lower part of the trunk. 

 Three contained grubs, while the others were sound. November 

 13, I examined one hundred and fifty acorns. Of fifty taken be- 

 tween the ground and five feet above it, twenty-three were sound, 

 twenty-three contained one grub each, one contained two grubs 

 and three each sheltered three grubs. Of the second fifty, taken 

 between five and ten feet from the ground, forty were sound and 

 ten held grubs. Of the third fifty, taken between ten and fifteen 

 feet from the ground, twenty-two contained grubs. Sixty more were 

 examined on December 11; only twenty-five were sound. Mr. 

 J. M. Stowell examined numbers of the stomachs of these birds at 

 Stanford University and informed me that they contained nothing 

 but bits of acorn. 



The birds are very gregarious and noisy. They may be seen in 

 flocks of from six to a dozen or more even during the breeding 

 season. 



Melanerpes torquatus. Lewis' Woodpecker. 



I have never seen this woodpecker at Los Gatos. It is rare in 

 the oak groves lower in the valley, and is not often seen at Palo 

 Alto. 



