Woodpecker WESTERN BIRDS 



they take the nut out and try several cavities before 

 finally leaving it. This always seems such a useless 

 waste of time. Their way of getting the nut securely 

 lodged is to prop against their tail feathers, turn the 

 head at right angles to the body, and with the whole 

 body used as a hammer, bobbing up and down as the 

 bill hits the nut, drive the acorn in. Often there are 

 six or seven of these large birds working on one tree and 

 as they come and go they greet each other with a lively 

 jd-cob, jd-cob, or a sort of purring sound. Jolly good 

 fellows they surely are. One call that they often give is 

 a nasal quavering Ka-rd-dh and Kurrdh-ah-ah. 



The theory formally advanced that the birds stored 

 acorns for the worms they would germinate, has, I think, 

 been given up since the birds have often been seen eating 

 the nuts; in fact, more than half of their food for the 

 year consists of acorns. An old sycamore tree near my 

 home was formally used as a storehouse, being almost 

 completely riddled with holes. In the spring these holes 

 are empty and many shells beneath the tree show that 

 the birds have eaten them there. Squirrels and Jays 

 also help themselves to these stored acorns. I have seen 

 the Woodpeckers drive meddlesome Jays away from this 

 old sycamore. 



Pines and oaks are also favorite storehouses. Even 

 when living trees of these kinds are selected the work 

 of the Carpenter Bird does no harm since the nut does 

 not pierce below the thick bark. 



To be sure the birds sometimes make nuisances of 

 themselves boring into empty schoolhouses, or homes, 

 and they also use telegraph poles for the same purposes. 



The habit of these Woodpeckers, and several other 

 kinds, of digging out holes in poles for nests has caused 

 them to have a bad reputation among telephone and 

 telegraph companies who claim that the birds weaken 

 the poles. In Bulletin No. 39, Biological Survey, we are 



28 



