116 Recent Ornithological Pubtications. 



delphia Academy for April 1867, in which all the remaining 

 species of the family known to the author are minutely and 

 comparatively described. Among them, five are given as new — 

 Icterus graysoni, I. sclnteri (=/. mentalis, Sclater, Cat. Am. B. 

 p. 134, nee Lesson), /. salvini, and /. grace-anna. We could 

 have wished that Mr. Cassin had bestowed on this last a spe- 

 cific name according to the letterless, and according to the spirit 

 more graceful. 



On a former occasion (Ibis 1867, p. 126), we remarked on 

 Mr. Lord's observations regarding the asserted provident habits 

 oi Melanerpes foiinicivorus. He ("^ Nat. in Vancouver's Island,' 

 i. pp. 289-292) doubted the Woodpecker's ever feeding on 

 acorns in winter ; and it appears he is right in doing so. But 

 still it would seem that the Woodpeckers do store up the acorns 

 for all this; and the reason why is very interesting. It is thus 

 given by Dr. C. T. Jackson in the 'Proceedings' of the Boston 

 Society of Natural History (vol. x. p. 227). 



" On the 4th of June I made an examination of the acorns 

 which the Californian Red-headed Woodpecker so abundantly 

 inserts into holes made in the bark of trees. Knowing that 

 the bird is insectivorous, I did not believe the common opinion 

 that the acorns were eaten by Woodpeckers. The acorns are 

 always driven into the holes made to fit them, cup-end foremost, 

 so that the pointed end only is exposed to view. They are 

 packed in so tightly that it is difficult to extract them without 

 the aid of a knife. On getting out some of these acorns, I 

 found in them only the worm which had eaten up the kernel of 

 the nut. Thus it would appear that the Woodpecker is able to 

 select the infested acorn in which there is a minute and almost 

 invisible egg, and puts the acorn into a hole in such a manner 

 as to prevent the escape of the worm when it comes to maturity : 

 as the worm can only cut through the softer portion of the 

 shell at its base and not through the hard pointed end, so it is 

 securely imprisoned until the Woodpecker calls for it. Since 

 there must be a limit in time as to the procuring of the infested 

 acorns and to the existence of the worms in the nuts, and a 

 sudden harvest of the worms would be obtained at a particular 



