444 THE LEWIS WOODPECKER. 
subject to little-understood fluctuations. One year the birds will abound 
in a certain section, while the year following none are seen. Whether 
this is because the local food supply has become exhausted with a season’s 
foraging, or whether the birds are simply whimsical in choice, we do not 
Taken in Whatcom County. Photo by the Author. 
AN OLD BURN SUCH AS LEWIS WOODPECKERS DELIGHT IN. 
know. Doubtless, in any event, the rapid opening up of new territory, thru 
the cutting and partial burning of timber, has provided a field of oppor- 
tunity too large for the species to fully occupy. With such wealth before 
them the early colonists may naturally have become a little saucy. 
