242 BULLETIN 17 4, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



repeatedly until he had completely consumed the pulp, and then he usually 

 attacked another very near to it. Thus I have found certain clusters in which 

 every orange had been bored, vrhile all the others on the tree v?ere untouched. 



The red-bellied woodpecker shares with other species, formerly in- 

 cluded in the genus Melanerpes^ the habit of storing acorns, nuts, 

 insects, and other articles of food for future use. Ben, J. Blincoe 

 (1923) Avrites: 



The red-bellied woodpecker is a heavy feeder on beech and oak mast. In 

 the early fall its incessant "Cha-cha-cha" was a familiar sound in the beech 

 woods about Cherry Hill. I never observed it in the act of storing beech mast 

 though on numerous occasions red-bellied woodpeckers were seen carrying 

 beechnuts to a considerable distance from the trees from which they were 

 secured. Very likely many of these nuts were wedged in cracks or crevices 

 for future use. However, in the fall of 1913, a red-belly was seen storing 

 the acorns from a Chinquapin Oak (Quercus acuminata) which stood over the 

 wood-pile at Cherry hill. The acorns were carried, one at a time, to fence 

 posts ranging from twenty-five to three hundred yards distant from the oak 

 tree, and were generally wedged in a crack in the post, usually near the top. 

 One acorn was placed in a cavity caused by decay, and laid loosely on the 

 rotten wood. As far as my observations went, but one acorn was placed in a 

 single post. 



Wliile Mr. Blincoe was shelling walnuts, he saw one of these 

 woodpeckers carry off the shells, and apparently eat the remaining 

 meat out of them. Several times he saw one stealing corn from his 

 corncrib or fl^ying off with cherries from a tree in his garden and 

 sometimes carrying them to a fence post to eat. Again he watched 

 one eating a hole in an apple, and "found that the apple on which 

 it had been working bore a decayed spot near the stem and just at 

 the edge of it, but entirely in the solid part of the apple, was a hole 

 about half an inch across, and three-quarters deep. The bottom of 

 this cavity contained several tiny holes, markings made b}'^ the wood- 

 pecker's mandibles. In the early winter, frequently, a red-belly 

 would be seen feeding on an apple that remained on the tree, though 

 decayed and practically dried up." 



Lester W. Smith writes to me that it seems to be a habit of the 

 red-bellied woodpecker in Florida to store away insects and other 

 food. "After digging into and capturing an insect, I see it fly to 

 a small hole, commonly in the trunk of the cabbage palmetto, and 

 place the insect in it. At a hole 5 feet from the ground I found a 

 male carolinus inserting the badly mutilated body of a cockroach. 

 A large portion of his catches or finds he seems to prefer to hide 

 away. A tree of small, late tangerines was visited almost daily dur- 

 ing the latter half of May, and sections of the pulp, taken from fruit 

 torn open b}^ the mockingbird, were carried off and hidden in various 

 places. On June 3 I saw carolim/s go to the base of banana leaves, 

 take out a section of pulp, and fly away with it. Examination 

 showed other pieces similarly hidden, some with ants on them." 



