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WV, 
THE CONDOR 
A Bi-Monthly Magazine of 
Western Ornithology 
tional Mus® 
Volume XXIII July-August, 1921 Number 4 
[Issued July 26, 1921] 
THE STORAGE OF ACORNS BY THE CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER 
By HENRY W. HENSHAW 
WITH ONE PHOTO 
EARS AGO when I first visited California my attention was attracted 
by the antics and behavior of the ‘‘carpintero’’, or California Wood- 
pecker as it is more widely known, and I looked hopefully forward to 
the time when I should have the opporiunity to carefully study the habits ol 
this the most remarkable of our woodpeckers. The looked for opportunity, 
however, never came, and all I can hope to do at the present time is to add a 
few desultory notes and gleanings to the very suggestive and interesting ac- 
count of the storage habits of the bird by Dr. Ritter in THE Conpor for Jan- 
uary, 1921. 
Before adverting to the subject proper a few words may be devoted to 
the general subject of food storing in the animal world by way of comparison 
with the well known habits of our woodpecker. The storing of food in times 
of plenty against the hour of need would seem to be a procedure so natural 
that one can but wonder that it is not more common among animals, especially 
when we find the habit so well developed in an order as low as the insects. 
Whole groups of these, as the ants, bees, and wasps, have acquired the prac- 
tice, and have devised many curious ways, not only of storing food for them- 
selves, but of providing sustenance for their offspring yet unborn. 
Passing at a Jump from the lower orders to the higher we find that not 
a few members of the rodent family, the largest of the order, rely upon stored 
food for their existence a part of the year, and by their thrift and foresight are 
thus enabled to inhabit regions where otherwise they could not exist. Many 
of them, however, substitute the practice of aestivation and hibernation to. 
carry them past the seasons of drought and cold, certain of the western ground 
squirrels and the well known woodechuck of weather-wise fame furnishing 
examples. 
The perishable nature of their food forbids the carnivorous mammals 
from storing supplies, though we catch a glimpse of the practice in certain of 
them, as the hon and other cats, which often hide their partly devoured kills 
with intent to return to them later for further meals. 
Turning now to the highly organized group of birds, but one remove from 
the mammals, we find that very few have developed the storage habit, even to 
a slight degree, and that most birds are dependent for food upon their daily 
