THE CALIFORNIA WOOD-PECKER 



I may not be as pretty a bird 

 as my red-headed cousin but I'm 

 just as busy. My home is in the 

 west among the pines on the 

 mountains. I do not visit the 

 east at all. 



Of course I like insects and 

 fruits just as my relations do, 

 but I like best to eat acorns. 

 You know, if I left the acorns on 

 the trees and just got enough to 

 eat at one time, after a while I 

 would have a hard time finding 

 any. They would drop off and 

 roll away and get lost among 

 the leaves and grasses. What 

 would you do if you were I ? 



I have a very sharp bill, you 

 see. So I can peck and peck at 

 the tree until I have made a 

 hole which will hold an acorn. 

 Sometimes I fill my store house 

 quite full in this way. You can 



see how they look in the picture. 

 When I want to get at the meat 

 in the acorn. I drive the nut into 

 a crack and split the shell. 

 Then I have my breakfast easily 

 enough. 



Some of the other birds like 

 acorns too — but I think they 

 should find and store away their 

 own and not try to take mine. I 

 do not like to quarrel and so 

 have many friends. 



Then I have my nest to look 

 after. I make it as my cousin 

 does, by digging into a tree, first 

 a passage way or hall — then a 

 living-room. There are the 

 four or five white eggs and there 

 too soon are the little baby-birds 

 to be taken care of. Now, have 

 I not a great deal of work ? Do 

 you not think I am quite as busy 

 as my cousin? 



174' 



