Notes from Field and Study 



345 



three uncertain notes. The song, the pause, 

 and the effort were repeated once, but no 

 more. Next came what we might call one 

 measure— the first four or five notes — of the 

 song, slowly and deliberately. The young 

 son, as I take for granted he was, tried bravely 

 to make some imitation of these sounds, 

 and for thirty or forty minutes these same 

 few notes were painstakingly repeated, and 

 however unsuccessfully, imitated, until I 

 felt like going to the rescue of the poor little 

 fellow. However, the time of that lesson was 

 evidently up, for the whole song now rushed 

 forth with all its original speed and vim, two 

 or three times, with no pause for imitation, 

 and they were off for breakfast. At the end 

 of the lesson the pupil had got the number of 

 notes and the time very well, but the quality 

 and pitch seemed hard to master. 



The next morning my hope that I might 

 hear another lesson was realized, and it 

 evidently really was the second, though the 

 pupil had apparently done some rehearsing 

 on the first one. The whole song was gone 

 through once or twice, as on the morning 

 before; then the part used as the first lesson 

 was repeated by both three or four times, and 

 much more successfully by the youngster. 

 Then three or four notes were added and the 

 lesson proceeded exactly as on the previous 

 morning and ended in the same way. The 

 same methods were followed on succeeding 

 mornings until, within probably less than a 

 week, the whole song was so well mastered 

 that it was hard to tell the teacher from the 

 pupil. — Flora A. Hodge, Grand Forks, N. D. 



An Acorn Hoard 



One of the canniest providers of winter 

 stores that I know of is the California Wood- 

 pecker of the Laguna Mountains in southern 

 California. In October I was on top of these 

 mountains, where, at an elevation of between 

 six and seven thousand feet, they are covered 

 with handsome pine and live-oak trees. 



I observed a pine tree at least 5 feet 

 through, the bark of which was riddled with 

 holes somewhat over % inch across, and from 

 an inch to an inch and a half deep. In many 

 of these holes, acorns had been thrust, point 

 first, so that the other end was flush with the 



surface of the bark. This great pine tree, with 

 its sieve-like bark bearing a bounteous crop 

 of acorns, puzzled and interested me intensely. 

 I learned that it is the storehouse of the 

 Woodpeckers who were then in the middle of 

 their harvest. 



This information was verified by the wife 

 of the forest ranger who has a cottage near 

 this particular tree. From the bountiful crop 

 of acorns nearby the Woodpecker has only 

 to fly a few yards to the pine tree and de- 

 posit his burden in one of the many holes in 

 the bark. If the nut will not go in, or if it 

 fits too loosely to stay, he tries another 

 cavity. Some of the holes looked as if they 

 might have served many generations of 

 birds; others seemed comparatively new. All 

 were well formed, of uniform appearance, and 

 varied little in size. 



I estimated that, from near the ground up 

 to and including a number of large limbs 50 

 to 70 feet from the ground, the bark of this 

 tree contained an average of fifteen to twen- 

 ty-five of these holes to the square foot, or 

 between 10 and 20,000 holes in the tree. At 

 least one hole out of every four had an acorn 

 in it, so that there were from 2,500 to 5,000 

 acorns already stored away in that tree, and 

 the harvest was just well under way. This 

 store, reduced to cubic measure would, make 

 quite a supply, for the nuts were of fairly 

 good size. 



I saw hundreds of pine trees similarly 

 punched with holes for holding acorns, some 

 empty and others in various stages of being 

 filled; some apparently were no longer used 

 or others were preferred because of their 

 location nearer to a well-loaded oak tree. 

 What provision of nature taught these birds 

 to make holes just large enough to hold these 

 particular nuts? How many years of associ- 

 ation of oak trees, pine trees and Woodpeckers 

 in that locality were required to develop this 

 phenomenon? — Grant Foreman, Muskogee, 

 Okla. 



A Trip to Florida with a Stormy Petrel 



In December, 1914, 1 sailed from Baltimore 

 for Jacksonville. It was the stormy season, 

 and off Old Point Comfort, Va., our boat had 

 to anchor for two days. A terrific gale, in- 



