CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER 221 



Referring to the third brood, he says : 



In the large oak tree standing so near the trolley pole that some of Its outer 

 branches nearly reached the pole, there were almost always from six to 

 eight mature woodpeckers, all of which seemed to be interested in the welfare 

 of the nestlings in the pole. I repeatedly saw three of them feed the young- 

 sters, and on two occasions noted four different old birds perform this pa- 

 rental service. I was satisfied from the actions of the birds that a majority 

 of the flock, if not all of them, participated in the care of the young wood- 

 peckers. * * * 



For others than the parent birds to feed the young was a custom that 

 was not confined to this group or flock at the trolley pole. At about the time 

 the young were leaving that nest, I discovered another nest in a large oak 

 tree situated about a quarter of a mile distant from the pole, where I 

 found from one to five old birds, and possibly more, very busy feeding the 

 nestlings. 



Major Bendire (1895) remarks: "The California woodpecker is by 

 far the most social representative of this family found within the 

 United States, and it is no unusual occurrence to see half a dozen 

 or more in a single tree. It is also a well-disposed bird, and seldom 

 quarrels or fights with its own kind or with smaller species; but it 

 most emphatically resents the thieving propensities of the different 

 jays, magpies, and squirrels, when caught trespassing on its winter 

 stores, attacking these intruders with such vigor and persistency that 

 they are compelled to vacate the premises in a hurry." 



According to some other observers, its behavior toward other 

 species is not always as friendly as it might be. M. P. Skinner writes 

 to me: "Once I found a California woodpecker and a California 

 jay peaceably perched in the top of a dead cotton wood. But at 

 other times I have noted much fighting between these woodpeckers 

 and the jays, with the woodpeckers apparently able to hold their 

 own. On May 1, 1933, at old Fort Tejon, I saw a California wood- 

 pecker make a vicious dive at a plain titmouse that was clinging to 

 the bark on the trunk of an oak. On May 31 I saw one make a dive 

 at an Arkansas kingbird on a fence and drive it away. In May 

 1933 I found a pair of house finches that had attempted to nest 

 in a cavity high up in a dead stub of a black oak. When I ap- 

 peared, I found a California woodpecker throwing out the straws 

 and other nest material. The two finches were only a foot or two 

 distant, but they made no attempt to save their home, although it 

 is probable that they were scolding. Old acorn stores in the same 

 stub indicated that some woodpecker had an earlier claim to that 

 stub than the finches had." 



Howard W. Wright (1908) says: 



January 18, while collecting at Newhall, California, I wounded a Lewis 

 woodpecker. The bird was able to fly to another tree, and I noticed that 

 some California woodpeckers in a nearby tree became very much excited. 

 As the Lewis woodpecker lit on the tree trunk four California woodpeckers 



