PHASES OF SOCIAL LIFE 



141 



stragglers of the original party return to inspect the store, and 

 disperse again. Finally, at a time apparently agreed upon, all 

 return to feast upon the hoard. But whether these nuts are 

 stored till they ripen, or for the sake of attracting and harbouring 

 insect grubs, is not known. 



No less interesting are the accounts given of the Red-headed 

 Woodpecker, which is abundant in Indiana only when beech- 

 nuts are plentiful. From the time these begin to ripen the 

 Woodpeckers are constantly at work in storing nuts, which they 



III. 20.— Devices to Secure a Permanent Food Supply 

 The right-hand figure is that of the Sapsucker or Yellow-bellied Wood- 

 pecker ; the left-hand the Californian Woodpecker. 



deposit in every conceivable situation — the cavities of decayed 

 trees, clefts in gateposts, and even into the thatches of houses ! 

 The felling of a tree in such a neighbourhood is always sure 

 to disclose several pints of these small nuts. In one instance 

 where they had been dropped into a crevice, pieces of bark and 

 wood had been driven into the aperture to conceal the treasure 

 from poachers ! These birds have also formed a habit of stor- 

 ing grasshoppers in the way that the Californian Woodpecker 



