66 THE WOODPECKERS 



that he is not charged with doing damage, be- 

 cause he attacks only the over-ripe and unmar- 

 ketable fruit; it is known that the habit is not 

 general yet, for even where the birds are abun- 

 dant only a single bird or a pair will be found 

 eating oranges, and always the same pair, prov- 

 ing that it is a habit not yet learned by all of 

 the species ; close observers declare, too, that it is 

 but a few years since the bird took up the habit ; 

 and, finally, we know that this must be the case, 

 for, though the wild orange was introduced by 

 the Spaniards, the sweet fruit was not exten- 

 sively cultivated until recently. Here is a habit 

 which undoubtedly has been acquired within 

 twenty years or so, which will in all probability 

 increase until instead of being the exception it 

 is the rule. 



Why may not the red-head's occasional can- 

 nibalism, unless this is mere individual degener- 

 acy, and his more common custom of hoarding 

 be habits that he is acquiring ? Why, indeed, 

 may not the Californian woodpecker's distin- 

 guishing trait be a habit which began like these 

 among a few birds here and there, wiser or more 

 progressive than the rest, and which in time 

 became general and established ? Why may not 

 the two observed instances of the Lewis's wood- 

 pecker be examples of a similar habit just be- 



