X 



A STUDY OF ACQUIRED HABITS 



Something interesting yet remains to be dis- 

 covered of the hoarding habit of the red-head. 

 How stransfe that so familiar a bird should have 

 a habit so easily detected, and yet that no one in 

 all these years should speak of it ! Who does not 

 know how mice and chipmunks hide their food ? 

 Who has not watched the blue jay skulking off to 

 hide an acorn where he will be sure to forget it ? 

 Who does not remember the articles his pet Jim 

 Crow stole and lost to him forever ? The hoard- 

 ing habit has long been observed of many dull- 

 colored, rare, or insignificant creatures. That 

 one so noisy, gay-colored, tame, and abundant 

 as our red-headed woodpecker should have the 

 same habit and escape observation is certainly 

 remarkable. But though it is over twenty years 

 since the storing of grasshoppers was recorded 

 and twelve since the practice of laying up beech- 

 nuts was observed, very little seems to have been 

 learned of the habit since these records were 

 made. 



