THE 



AMERICAN NATURALIST. 



Vol. xvi. — MAY, 1882.— No. 5. 



BY ROBERT E. C. STEARNS. 



THE acorn-storing habit of the Californian woodpecker ( Mel- 

 anerpes fonnicivorus ) , has long been known to the " country 

 folk " and others who frequent the country and take notes by the 

 way. Before the American occupation, the Spanish Californians 

 had observed this curious habit, and gave the bird the appropriate 

 and musical name " el carpintero" No doubt, still further back 

 the aborigines had their name for the carpintero, and regarded the 

 bird as invested with superior power, or possessed by some un- 

 seen or hidden influence, which placed it above its feathered con- 

 geners and proved it to be in some mysterious way a little closer 

 to the heart of nature. 



It is highly probable that if we knew the traditions of the for- 

 mer red men of California, we should find some quaint story or 

 curious legend connected with this ingenious and interesting bird. 

 I find no mention of this woodpecker in either Bancroft's 1 or 

 Powers' 2 ethnological volumes, relating to the California tribes. 



During a recent visit to Napa county, I noticed near the house 

 where I stayed, on Howell mountain, a fallen pine of the species 

 known to botanists as Pinus ponderosa, the yellow pine of the 

 woodsmen, the bark of which was full of acorn holes. 



The tree was a noble specimen, and its prostrate position gave 

 me a chance to learn not only its dimensions, but also to ascer- 

 tain very nearly the number of holes which the woodpeckers had 

 made in its bark. 



In falling, the tip of the tree had broken off, and was so hidden 

 in the general debris of fragments of branches, cones and under- 



1 Native Races of the Pacific States. 



* Contributions to Ethnology, U. S. Geog. and Geol. Survey, Powell, Vol. Ill, 4to. 



