56 THE WOODPECKERS 



indulge in long-continued drumming; both catch 

 flies expertly on the wing ; and both have the 

 curious habit of laying up stores of food for 

 future use. The Californian woodpecker not 

 only stores acorns, but insect food as well. But 

 though the Carpenter's habits have long been 

 known, it is a comparatively short time since 

 the red-head was first detected laying up winter 

 supplies. 



The first to report this habit of the red-head 

 was a gentleman in South Dakota, who one 

 spring noticed that they were eating young 

 grasshoppers. At that season he supposed that 

 all the insects of the year previous would be 

 dead or torpid, and certainly full-grown, while 

 those of the coming summer would be still in 

 the egg. Where could the bird find half-grown 

 grasshoppers ? Being interested to explain this, 

 he watched the red-heads until he saw that one 

 went frequently to a post, and appeared to get 

 something out of a crevice in its side. In that 

 post he found nearly a hundred grasshoppers, 

 still alive, but wedged in so tightly they could 

 not escape. He also found other hiding-places 

 all full of grasshoppers, and discovered that the 

 woodpeckers lived upon these stores nearly all 

 winter. 



But it is not grasshoppers only that the red- 



