54



The Lady William Cecil.



There are a few other Flickers differing somewhat in colour,

those in the South (Southern California and Texas) having crimson

feathers where the Golden-wings are yellow, but whether these are

distinct varieties or the result of hybridity, or local food conditions

and surroundings, has not yet been clearly defined.


The Californian Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) haunts

the forests of the Rockies and California. On the “Old Wawona

trail” and thereabouts we met them just returned from their

migratory journey. They measure about 9 in. They are chiefly

black and white in colouring, the black being glossy like the feathers

of a Rook. This Woodpecker has a white stripe in front of the

eyes joining on the throat, forming a sort of “ bib ” under the bill;

above this bib the throat is black. In the male bird the crown is

bright crimson from the white eye-line to the nape of the neck ; in

the female a black line divides the white and red. The breast patch

in both sexes is black ; in the male a few red feathers are sometimes

found among the black. The Californian Woodpeckers have curious

white eyes. These birds feed on tree insects, and also on grubs and

caterpillars and ground insects. I saw several busily hunting for

their succulent prey among the thick undergrowth of deer-brush.

But they are chiefly renowned for their wonderfully elaborate work

of storing acorns and nuts in holes, which they bore in the trees in

the same way as the Red-headed Woodpeckers, but generally on a

much larger scale. A big tree is often spotted in large patches wflth

nuts and acorns, only a few inches apart. I have noticed several in

different places. One, a big sugar-pine in the Yosemite Valley, w T as

thickly studded with nuts, but unfortunately so high up that I could

not count them ; there must have been from twenty to thirty nuts

in quite a small space, and higher up were many more. Some

authorities say that the birds only store in this way the fruit

which contains maggots, thus insuring a supply of “ animal food ”

in readiness for their return from their winter in the South ; others

say that pebbles and stones are stored in the holes instead of nuts,

and that this careful work is only a mechanical “ survival of a

long-forgotten necessity. Whatever the cause, the result is a very

curious habit, and it would be extremely interesting to see w 7 hat a

Californian Woodpecker would do if given the proper material of



