54 THE WOODPECKERS 



est to refuse to steal, but they find it harder 

 to get the woodpecker's stores out of his pine- 

 tree pantry than to pick up honest acorns of 

 their own. So, like the woodpecker, they lay 

 up their own stores of nuts, and feed on them 

 in winter, or go hungry. 



We have had very little aid from anything 

 except the piece of bark we were studying, 

 yet we have learned that the Californian wood- 

 pecker is a good carpenter; that he works hard 

 at his trade ; that he shows remarkable fore- 

 sight in collecting his food, much ingenuity in 

 housing it, good judgment in putting it where 

 his enemies cannot get it, and wisdom in the 

 plan he has adopted to give him a good supply 

 of fresh nuts at a season when the autumn's 

 crop is buried under the deep snow. 



If I were a Californian boy, I think I should 

 spend my time in trying to find out more about 

 this wise woodpecker, concerning which much 

 remains to be discovered. 



