CALIFORNIA WUODPECKKH. 43 



CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER. 



( Melanerpes formicivorus bairdi.) 



The California woodpecker (PL IV) is distributed throughout most 

 of the oak-covered mountain and foothill region of California, north- 

 ern Lower California, and southern Oregon. It lives generally wher- 

 ever large oaks are abundant, and from these it gets much of its living. 

 Wherever it occurs it is commonly abundant, and its strongly con- 

 trasted colors and loud cries attract much attention as it flies from 

 tree to tree. A peculiar habit has drawn much notice from non- 

 scientific observers that of drilling holes in tree trunks or large 

 branches, in each of which it places an acorn. Where this bird is 

 abundant all dead trunks or branches of any size, and many live ones, 

 are punctured with these holes, frequently less than an inch apart. 

 So zealous is the bird in this work that often wjien trees in the proper 

 condition for puncturing are not numerous enough, it attacks build- 

 ings and drills holes in the cornices of houses or in the spires of 

 churches; also it bores into telephone and telegraph poles and fence 

 posts, and sometimes uses natural cavities. But the woodpecker 

 does not get the benefit of all the acorns it lays up, for the jays have 

 learned where they can easily obtain food in winter, and are not back- 

 ward about robbing the woodpecker's larder, thus causing endless 

 quarrels. Probably rats, mice, and squirrels also help themselves to 

 these supplies. 



For the laboratory investigation of the food of the California 

 woodpecker 84 stomachs were available. They were taken in every 

 month except February, April, and May the larger numbers in June 

 and July, when the chances for the bird to do mischief are greatest. 

 The food was found to consist of 22.59 per cent of animal matter to 

 77.41 per cent of vegetable. This is the highest percentage of vege- 

 table matter yet found in the stomach of any woodpecker, though the 

 red-bellied (Centurus carolinus) comes very close to it. Most other 

 woodpeckers eat more animal than vegetable food. 



Animal food. Beetles constitute the smallest item in the animal 

 food. They amount to less than 3 per cent, and are distributed among 

 several families, with no preference shown for any one. In July, 

 the only month in which they are at all prominent, they reach 14.76 

 per cent. No wood-boring larvae were found. This seems to indi- 

 cate that this bird uses its wood-pecking powers, not to find insects, 

 but only to make places for storing food. Ants amount to 8.09 per 

 cent of the food. In one stomach taken in March they constitute 

 50 per cent of the contents, but in no other do they reach 11 per 

 cent. The specific name of this bird, formicivorus, is not well chosen, 

 for it eats fewer ants than most other species of woodpeckers. Other 

 Hymenoptera amount to 7.34 per cent. More than half of these 



