58 THE WOODPECKERS 



them lip for winter vise. This time the observa- 

 tion was made in Indiana. There, when the nuts 

 were abundant, the red-heads were seen busily 

 carrying them off. Their accumulations were 

 found in all sorts of places : cavities in old tree- 

 trunks contained nuts by the handful ; knot- 

 holes, cracks, crevices, seams in the barns were 

 filled full of nuts. Nuts were tucked into the 

 cracks in fence-posts ; they were driven into 

 railroad ties ; they were pounded in between 

 the shingles on the roofs ; if a board was sprung 

 out, the space behind it was filled with nuts, 

 and bark or wood was often broug-ht to cover 

 over the gathered store. No doubt children 

 often found these hiding-places and ate the nuts, 

 thinking they were robbing some squirrel's 

 hoard. 



In the South, where the beech-tree is re- 

 placed by the oak, the red-heads eat acorns. I 

 should like to know whether they store acorns 

 as they do beechnuts. Are chestnuts ever laid 

 up for winter ? How far south is the habit kept 

 up ? Is it observed beyond the limits of a regu- 

 lar and considerable snowfall ? That is, do the 

 birds lay up their nuts in order to keep them 

 out of the snow, or for some other reason ? 



It remains to be discovered if other wood- 

 peckers have hoarding-places. We know that 



