WESTERN BIRDS Woodpecker 



told of a section where the Red-headed Woodpeckers had 

 bored into 110 out of 268 poles. In Texas come com- 

 plaints of the Golden-fronted and Texan, some of the 

 poles having as many as ten holes in them. The Bureau 

 of Census, Forest Products, is authority for the state- 

 ment that "decay is the great cause of destruction of 

 poles. It is estimated that approximately 95 per cent are 

 destroyed by this cause and only 5 per cent by breakage 

 or mechanical abrasion." How much the breakage is 

 due to the weakening of posts by the birds is unknown, 

 but the damage is nowhere as great as commonly 

 supposed. 



The engineering department of the American Tele- 

 phone and Telegraph Company, to determine the effect of 

 Woodpecker attacks upon the strength of poles, made a 

 test in 1908 near Zanesville, Ohio, by fastening a rope 

 around the top of the pole and pulling with a block and 

 tackle to which a dynamometer was attached. In 9 

 cases out of 12 the poles broke at the ground line 

 and not at the points attacked by the birds. It would 

 thus seem that the injury really done by these birds to 

 the poles is not serious enough to warrant their being 

 killed because of it. From my observations of the Cali- 

 fornia Woodpecker I believe they are doing infinitely 

 more good than harm in ridding these same poles of 

 insect life for they are always searching over them and 

 are evidently finding something good to eat. In spite 

 of these experiments with the poles, there have recently 

 come under my observation cases of damage done by 

 these interesting birds, and to such an extent that a 

 permit was given for their destruction. It was found 

 that the birds along the Arroyo near my home were 

 making big holes in some of the poles carrying service 

 wires. This was high up and the holes were so large 

 that the men did not dare endanger their lives by going 

 up them, as was necessary. Big pieces of tin were nailed 



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