WOODPECKEBS 



38!) 



surface — just about 'bill-deep' for this woodpecker. As a usual thing 

 it is impossible to take out, with the fingers, an acorn from its pit, both 

 because of the smooth, elusive surface of the nut and because of its having 

 been forcibly wedged into its socket. There is a great range in the size 

 of the acorns of different species of oaks, from the small slender ones of 

 the interior live oak to the relatively huge ones of the golden oak. Acorns 

 of all sizes are utilized by the birds in the different zones ; so that, all in 

 all, an astonishingly' acute faculty of adaptation must be credited to the 

 California Woodpecker. 



Fig. 47. Head and tongue (a) of California Woodpecker, showing general structure 

 of tongue with backward-pointing brush at tip (h) and long insertion of base of tongue 

 (c) around back of skull. The muscular arrangement within the sheath enclosing the 

 tongue permits the latter to be protruded (as shown in a) when the woodpecker is 

 pulling a grub out of a recess in the wood. Natural size. 



Near Pleasant Valley, fence posts were riddled with holes (fig. 48a), 

 many of which, on May 28, 1915, contained acorns of the previous autumn's 

 crop. Some of these were so loose as to be easily withdrawn, while others 

 were wedged tight. All examined had been inserted point foremost. In 

 some holes only open shells remained, as if the birds had eaten the meat 

 from the nuts without removing them, by breaking them open at the base. 

 Some of the nuts were wormy, probably not a particular misfortune to the 

 birds provided they were not too late for either worm or mast. 



Two stomachs of California Woodpeckers shot contained only pieces of 

 shelled acorn, ants, and gravel. At El Portal, in December, a pair of 



