24 BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA AFFECTING FRUIT INDUSTRY. 



the pulp of the larger cultivated varieties, though that in the stomachs 

 taken in winter could have had no economic value. Seeds of the 

 elderberry (Sambucus) were found in two stomachs. The largest 

 amounts of fruit were eaten in August and September, when they 

 reached 59.34 and 54 percent, respectively. While this is a high per- 

 centage of fruit, it is not believed that the bird does any sensible 

 damage in the orchard, since it is not numerous enough and does not 

 usually frequent cultivated ground. No complaints of such damage 

 have yet been heard. 



The principal item of food of the California woodpecker is acorns. 

 Acorns form 52.45 percent of the year's food, and were found in every 

 month when stomachs were taken except August ; as only three were 

 collected in that month, the record is not very reliable. In Novem- 

 ber, when 12 stomachs were taken, mast amounted to nearly 93.58 

 percent of the average contents. In 12 stomachs collected in June, 

 when fruit and insects are abundant, it averaged 79.25 percent. In 

 July it fell to 29.47 percent, the deficiency of acorns being made up 

 by animal food, which attains the highest percentage in that month. 

 The question has been raised whether the woodpecker stores acorns 

 for the sake of the meat, or for the grubs that frequently develop 

 therein. Stomach examination shows that, while the substance of 

 the acorn is eaten freely whenever obtainable, larvae are almost 

 entirely wanting. It is therefore the nuts themselves that the 

 woodpecker stores for food. From an economic point of view little 

 objection to this acorn-eating habit can be raised. The acorn crop 

 is usually superabundant, and in most cases can not be put to better 

 use than to tide the woodpeckers over the winter until insects become 

 plentiful. 



SUMMARY. 



From the foregoing discussion of the food of the California wood- 

 pecker it is obvious that the bird's food does not possess high eco- 

 nomic value. On the other hand the bird can not be charged with 

 the destruction of useful insects or of any product of husbandry. 

 While it eats some fruit, it does not habitually infest orchards, and 

 is seldom numerous enough to be a serious nuisance. The few insects 

 it eats are nearly all harmful. 



The trees used by the bird for storehouses are usually dead or partly 

 so, and in living trees the punctures do not go through the bark, so that 

 no harm is done. When holes are drilled in buildings, fences, or tele- 

 graph poles, the injury is real, but on the whole the damage done in 

 this way is not extensive. 



When the beneficial and injurious habits of the bird are carefully 

 weighed, the balance is decidedly in the bird's favor; and from the 

 esthetic standpoint few birds are more interesting and beautiful. 



