THE CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER. 135 



a musket ball would make, shaped with the most ac- 

 curate precision, as if bored under the guidance of a 

 rule and compass, and many of them filled most 

 neatly with acorns. Earlier in the season I had re- 

 marked such holes in most of all the soft timber, but 

 imagining that they were caused by wood insects, I 

 did not stop to examine or inquire ; but now finding 

 them studded with acorns, firmly fixed in, which I 

 knew could not have been driven there by the wind, 

 I sought for an explanation, which was practically 



given me by Captain S 's pointing out a flock of 



Woodpeckers, busily and noisily employed in the 

 provident task of securing the winter's provision. 

 For it appears that this sagacious bird is not all the 

 time thriftlessly engaged in ' tapping the hollow 

 beech tree' for the mere idle purpose of empty sound, 

 but spends its summer season in picking these holes, 

 in which it lays its store of food for the winter, where 

 the elements can neither afiect nor place it beyond 

 their reach ; and it is regarded as a sure omen that 

 the snowy period is approaching, when these birds 

 commence stowing away their acorns, which other- 

 wise might be covered by its fall. I have frequently 

 paused from my chopping, to watch them in the 

 neighborhood, with the acorns in their bills, half 

 clawing, half flying around the tree, and have ad- 

 mired the adroitness with which they tried it at dif- 

 ferent holes until they found one of its exact calibre, 

 when, inserting the pointed end, they tapped it home 

 most artistically with the beak, and flew down for 

 another. 



