the bark of which was "perforated from 

 near the base of the tree fully forty feet 

 up and all around the trunk. This tree 

 alone must have contained several thou- 

 sand holes." 



The smaller form of these Woodpeck- 

 ers, found in Arizona and New Mexico, 

 store their supply of acorns under the 

 loose bark of dead pines and in "all sorts 

 of chinks and hollows," and it is said 

 that in J^Iexico acorns are stored by 

 these birds in the "dry tlower stalks of 

 the yuccas and the maguay." There is 

 quite a difference in the palatability of 

 acorns, some species being sweet and 

 pleasant to the taste while others are 

 bitter. The Californian Woodpeckers 

 seem to b'e able to distinguish between 

 the two kinds and, so far as we know, 

 always select the sweet ones. Dr. E. A. 

 M earns when lost from the command 

 of the United States army with which 

 he had been traveUng in Arizona, and 

 when short of provisions, filled his sad- 

 dle-bags with half-dried acorns from 

 under the loose bark of a dead pine 

 v^here the Woodpeckers had stored them. 

 But man is the least of the pilfering ene- 

 mies with which these hard-working 

 birds have to contend. They viciously 

 resent the attempts of the jays, the mag- 

 pies and the squirrels to help themselves 

 from their larder, stored by their indus- 

 try of the previous season. The Wood- 

 peckers, so peace-loving among them- 

 selves, become belligerent when these 

 thieves appear and attack them "with 

 such vigor and persistency that they are 

 compelled to vacate the premises in a 

 hurry." 



When the birds desire a meal of 

 acorns they extract the nuts, and taking 

 them to some broken branch drive them 

 between the splinters or in some other 

 place where they will be firmly held 

 while the birds break them open by re- 

 peated strokes of their bills, and then 

 they eat the kernels. Some observ^ers 

 have claimed that the acorns which are 

 stored usually contain a grub which is 

 not fully grown and that the acorns are 

 stored merely that the grub may grow 

 to maturity in a place where it may be 

 readily found after it is fat. While this 

 theory has been shown to be positively 

 erroneous, the views of Dr. J. G. Cooper 

 are interesting. He says: "These (the 



acorns) are generally considered as laid 

 uj) for a winter supply of food ; but 

 while in this climate (California) no 

 such provision is necessary, it is also 

 very improbable that birds of this fam- 

 ily w^ould feed on hard nuts or seeds of 

 any kind. The more probable explana- 

 tion is. that they are preserved for the 

 sake of the grubs they contain so fre- 

 quently, which, being very small when 

 the acorn falls, grow until they eat the 

 whole interior, when they are a welcome 

 delicacy for the bird. Whether they se- 

 lect only those containing grubs, or put 

 away all they meet with, is uncertain; 

 but as they leave great numbers in the 

 tree untouched, it is probable that these 

 are sound acorns, and often become a 

 supply to the squirrels and, jays." 



As a rule the Californian Woodpeck- 

 ers prefer to excavate their nesting holes 

 in either living or dead oak trees, usually 

 selecting the white oak. When such a 

 tree is available, one that is living and 

 in which the heart-w^ood is decayed is 

 selected. They do, however, nest in 

 other kinds of trees, such as large wil- 

 lows, cottonwoods and sycamores, and 

 they have been known to excavate a hole 

 and nest in telegraph poles. Both sexes 

 assist in the w^ork of excavating the nest- 

 ing site. "Tlieir entrance hole is about 

 one and three-fifths inches in diameter, 

 perfectly circular, and is sometimes chis- 

 eled through two or three inches of 

 solid wood before the softer and decayed 

 core is reached. The inner cavity is 

 gradually enlarged as it descends, and 

 varies from eight to twenty-four inches 

 in depth, usually being from four to five 

 inches in diameter at the bottom, where 

 a quantity of fine chips are allowed to 

 remain, on wdiich the eggs are de- 

 posited." 



This beautiful Woodpecker deserves 

 protection. While it may, at times, eat 

 some fruit of value to man, the total 

 amount is insignificant when compared 

 with the large number of insects and 

 their larvae, many of which are injurious 

 to vegetation, which it destroys, are 

 taken into consideration. The longer we 

 study the habits of birds, the more deeply 

 we realize that there are but very few 

 species of which it may not be said, they 

 are much more valuable than harmful 

 in the economv of man. 



185 



