VIII 



EL CAEPINTERO 



IN California and along the southwestern 

 boundary of the United States lives a wood- 

 pecker known among the. Mexicans as El Car- 

 pintero, the Carpenter. 



Carpentering is both his profession and his 

 pastime, and he seems really to enjoy the work. 

 When there is nothing more pressing to be done, 

 he spends his time tinkering around, fitting 

 acorns into holes in such great numbers and in 

 so workmanlike a fashion that we do not know 

 which is more remarkable, his patience or his 

 skill. Every acorn is fitted into a separate hole 

 made purposely for it, every one is placed butt 

 end out and is driven in flush with the surface, 

 so that a much frequented tree often appears as 

 if studded with ornamental nails. " What an 

 industrious bird ! " we exclaim ; but still it takes 

 some time to appreciate how enormous is the 

 labor of the Carpenter. Whole trees will some- 

 times be covered with his work, until a single 

 tree has thousands of acorns bedded into its bark 



