THE CALIFORNIA^ WOODPECKER. 115 



of the acorn is the attraction, not the worm in it, and there is no doubt that it 

 furnishes their principal food during the winter, and more or less during the 

 remainder of the year as well. To get at their contents, they are carried to a 

 convenient tree where a limb has been broken off; the acorn is then driven 

 •firmly into some suitable crack between the splinters, or in a crevice in the bark 

 (any place which holds it firmly answering the purpose) it is soon split open, 

 the outer hull removed, and the kernel is then ready to be eaten. 



Mr. F. Stephens writes me: "The Calif ornian Woodpecker is an abundant 

 winter resident in the oak forest, on the mountain slopes in southern California, 

 and a rather common summer resident in mixed oak and pine forests; less 

 common, though still not rare, in summer, in the oaks below the pines. It is 

 always active and noisy, and more or less gregarious. At one of my camps 

 in the pine region of Smith's Mountain a family of this species developed the 

 sap-sucking habit. I had noticed some fresh holes in the bark of two live oaks, 

 a foot or two from the ground, from which sap was flowing, and later I saw 

 the birds drinking; in one case three were seen drinking at the same time. 

 This is the only instance of the habit in this species that has come under my 

 observation." 



I found the Californian Woodpecker very abundant on the western slopes 

 of the Cascade Mountains, on the wagon road from Fort Klamath to Jackson- 

 ville, Oregon, in the middle of June, 1883. Shortly after crossing the summit, 

 and as soon as the first oak trees were met with along the western slope of the 

 mountains, some of these birds were continually in sight, and their loud 

 "tchurr, tchurr" could be heard in all directions. Several nests with youno- 

 were found, and these made a buzzing sort of noise when disturbed; a single 

 set of four slightly incubated eggs, one of them a runt, was taken on June 15, 

 1883, probably a second laying, the first set having been destroyed, as nearly 

 all the birds had good-sized young at that time. The nests were all sitiiated in 

 live-oak trees, from 15 to 25 feet from the ground. The site, from which I 

 obtained the set of eggs, was excavated on the under side of one of the main 

 branches of a good-sized oak, about 22 feet from the ground, some eight feet 

 away from the main trunk, and rather difficult to get at. I never saw Wood- 

 peckers so abundant anywhere as this species was here. Evidences of their 

 indefatigable industry were frequently visible. A telegraph pole was observed 

 which was fairly honeycombed with small holes, and a large black pine had 

 the bark perforated from near the base of the tree fully 40 feet up and all 

 around the trunk. This tree alone must have contained several thousand holes. 

 The only locality where I have observed this species on the eastern slopes of the 

 Cascade Mountains was near Pelican Bay, on the west side of Klamath Lake, 

 where a few straggling oaks existed, the only ones I have seen on that side of 

 the mountains; this accounted for the presence of this Woodpecker there. It 

 was quite rare, however, only three birds being noticed. I am erroneously 

 quoted in "Nests and Eggs of American Birds," by Oliver Davie (3d edition, 

 1889, p. 220), as having found this species breeding near Camp Harney, 



