52 THE WOODPECKERS 



picks up, so that he could get as many grubs 

 without taking all this trouble, and there is no 

 reason why they should not be as large and 

 good as those hatched out in holes in trees. 

 When I wish to keep nuts sweet, I spread them 

 out on the attic floor in the sun and air, keep- 

 ing them where they will not touch each other. 

 The Carpenter does practically the same thing. 

 Is it probable that he tries to raise a fine crop 

 of grubs in this way ? If so, one or the other 

 of us is doing just the wrong thing. But if wee- 

 vils are what the Carpenter wants, then the nuts 

 in the bark should be wormy ; yet only two of 

 them show any sign of a weevil, and of these one 

 appears from its dull color and weather-beaten 

 look to be a nut deposited several years before 

 the others by some other woodpecker. Every 

 other acorn is as hard, shining, and bright col- 

 ored as when it fell from the tree. Evidently the 

 bird picked these nuts up while they were fresh 

 and good ; perhaps he chose them because they 

 were good and fresh. The possibility becomes 

 almost a certainty when we observe that natu- 

 ralists agree that the Carpenter uses no acorns 

 but the sweet-tasting species. Now there are 

 likely to be as many grubs in one kind of an 

 acorn as in another, and he would scarcely re- 

 fuse any kind that contained them, if grubs 



