572 



NnlJTII AMERICAN lUliDS. 



And when wo are confronted with the fact, wliich we do not feel at liberty 

 to altogether disregard, that in very large regions this bird seems to labor in 

 vain, and makes no use of the treasures it has thus heaped togetlier, we 

 can only attempt on explanation. This Woodpecker is found over an im- 

 mense area. It everywhere has the same instinctive promptings to provide, 

 not "for a rainy day," l»ut for the exact op])Osite, — for a long interval 

 during which no rain falls, for nearlv two Inmdred davs at a time, in all the 

 low and hot lands of ^lexico and Central America. There these accumula- 

 ti(ms become a necessity, there we are iiifoime*' they do eat tlie acorns, and, 

 more than tliis, many other birds and beasts d( rive the means of self-pres- 

 eivation in times of iamine from the provident laV>ors of this bird. That in 

 Oregon, in Cidifornia, and in tlie mountains of ^lexico and elsewliere, 

 where better and more natural food offers throughout the year, it is rarely 

 known to eat the acorns it has tlius lal>ored to save, oidy seems to prove that 

 it acts under tlie influences of an undiscriminating instinct that prompts it 

 to gather in its strae.^ wliether it needs them or not. 



It may be, too, that writers have too hastily inferred that these birds never 

 eat the acorns, because tliey have l)een unalde to obtain complete evidence 

 of the fact. We have recently received from C. W. Plass, Esq., some inter- 

 esting facts, which, if they do not prove that the.se birds in tlie winter visit 

 their stores and eat their acorns, render it highly probable. Mr. Plass re- 

 sides near Xapa City, C'al., near which city, and on the edge of the pine 

 forests, he has recentlv constructed a house. The gable-ends of this dwellinu: 

 the California Woodpeckers have found a very convenient storehouse for 

 their acorns, and Mr. Plass has very considerately permitted them to do so 

 unmolested. The window in the gable slides up upon puUies its whole 

 length, to admit of a passage to the upper verandah, and the open space in 

 the wall admits of the nuts falling down into the upper hall, and this fre- 

 quently happens when the birds attempt to extricate them from the outside. 

 Xearlv all these nuts are found to be sound, and contain no worm, "while 

 those that fall outside are empty shells. Empty shells have also been 

 noticed by ^Ir. Plass under the trees, indicating that the acorns have been 

 eaten. v 



The Smithsonian Institution has received specimens of the American race 

 of this Woodpecker, collected at Belize l)y Dr. Berendt, and accompanied 

 bv illustrations of their work in the wav of inii)lantation of acorns in the 

 bark of trees. ' ' 



The eggs of this Woodpecker, obtained by Mr. Emanuel Samuels near 

 Petaluma, Cal., and now in the collection of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, are undistinguishable from the eggs of other Woodpeckers in form 

 or color, except that they are somewhat oblong, and measure 1.12 inches in 

 length by .90 of an inch in breadth. 



