I'H'ID.K - TllK WUODI'KCKEU.S. 569 



with clillifiilty oxtracU'd. Tims, tlie liark of a lar^'c pine forty or fit't}' loot 

 high will prosont llie a]ipoaranco of lioiiig closely Htiuldod with brass nails, 

 the heads only being visiblo. Those iutorns are thus stored in large quanti- 

 ties, and serve not only the Woodpecker, but trespassers as well. Dr. Ileer- 

 niann sjH'aks oi' the nost as boing excavated in the body ol' the tree to a 

 depth varying i'roni six inches to two feet, the eggs being four or five in 

 nunilier, and pure white. 



These very reinarl<al)lo and, tor a Woodpecker, somewhat anomalous 

 hal)its, first mentioned among American writers by Dr. Ileermann, have 

 given ri.se to various conflicting statements and theories in regard to the 

 design of these collections of acorns. Some have even ventured to discredit 

 the facts, but these are too well authenticated to be (piestioned. Too many 

 naturalists whose accuracy cannot be doiibted have been eyewitnesses to 

 these performances. Among these is ^Ir. J. K. Lord, who, however, was 

 constrained to confess ^is utter inability to explain why the birds did so. 

 He was never able to fii. an acorn that seemed to have been eaten, nor a 

 trace of vegetable matter in their stomachs, and at the close of his investi- 

 gations he frankly admitted this storing (jf acorns to be a mystery for which 

 he could offer no satisfactory exidanation. 



M. n. de Saussure, the Swiss naturalist, in an interesting ])aper ])ublished 

 in 1858 in the Bihiiotlu'qni' Unircmilc of Geneva, furnishes some very 

 interesting obsei'vations on the haliits of a Woodpecker, which he supposed 

 to be the Co/ojitrs Duvacntdiifr.-i of ^lexico, of storing collections of acorns in 

 the hollow stems of the maguay ])lants. Sumichrast, who accom|)anied 

 Saussure in his excursion, while recognizing the entire truth of the interest- 

 ing facts he narrates, is confident that the credit of all this instinctive fore- 

 thought belongs not to the Co/nji/cx, but to the Mexican race of this siiecies. 

 Saussure's article being too long to (piote in full, we give iin abstract. 



The slopes of a volcanic mountain, I'izarro, near Perote, in Alexico, are 

 covered with inunense beds of the maguay {A<imr. nmrricioui), with larger 

 growths of yuccas, but without any other large shrubs or trees. Saus- 

 sure was surprised to find this silent and dismal wilderness swarming with 

 Woodpeckers. A circumstance so unusiial as this large congregation of birds, 

 by nature so solitary, in a spot so unattractive, jn-ompted him t(j inves- 

 tigate the mystery. The birds were seen to tly first to the stalks of the 

 maguay, to attack them with tlieir l)eaks, and then to pass to the yuccas, 

 and there repeat their labors. These stalks, upon examination, were all 

 found to be riddled with holes, placed irregularly one above another, and 

 communicating with the hollow cavity within. On cutting open one of 

 these stalks, he found it lille<l with acorns. 



As is well known, this plant, after flowering, dies, its stalk remains, its outer 

 covering hardens into a flinty texture, aiul its centre becomes hollow. This 

 convenient cavity is nseil by the Woo.ljwcker as a storehouse for provisions 

 that are unusiuil foinl for the tribe. The central cavity fif the stalk is only 



vol,. M. 72 



