July, 1921 STORAGE OF ACORNS BY THE CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER 113 
and afterwards pieces of bark and wood have been brought and driven down over the 
nuts as if to hide them from poachers. .. . An examination recently of some of 
these caches showed that the nuts were being attacked by animals of some kind. The 
Red-heads are frequently seen in the vicinity of these stores and they sometimes mani- 
fest great impatience at the presence of other birds. 
It may be added that observation clearly showed that the stored nuts wer 
subsequently used for food. 
Another instance of the storage of food by the Red-head was published in 
Bull. Nuttall Orn. Club, April, 1878, p. 97, by Mr. H. B. Bailey, being an extract 
from a letter received from Mr. G. 8. Agersborg of Vermilion, Dakota, as fol- 
lows: 
Last spring in opening a good many birds of this species (Melanerpes erythro- 
cephalus) with the object of ascertaining their principal focd, I found in their stomachs 
nothing but young grasshoppers. One of them, which had its headquarters near my 
nouse, was observed making frequent visits to an old oak post, and on examining it i 
found a large crack where the woodpecker had inserted about one hundred grasshop: 
pers of all sizes (for future use, as later observations proved), which were put in with- 
out killing them, but they were so firmly wedged in the crack that they in vain tried 
to get free. I told this to a couple of farmers, and found that they had also seen the 
same thing, and showed me the posts which were used for the same purpose. 
In respect of this habit of storing away live prey for future use the Red- 
heads of Dakota are unique, and I know of no exact parallel to it. 
I have received the following interesting note from Miss Marion J. Pellew 
on the habits of the Red-head in South Carolina, which not only shows that 
the local woodpeckers there are storers of food but that their method results 
in considerable damage to property. 
About Aiken, South Carolina, the Red-headed Woodpeckers are very abundant, 
and are very common in the town. As soon as the poles carrying electric wires begin 
to show cracks, the birds begin stuffing the cracks with acorns which are hammered 
in. An official of the electric light and power company of Aiken states that the com- 
pany sustains an annual loss of several thousand dollars due to the operations of these 
woodpeckers, both from the drilling of holes, énd from the rotting of the wood caused 
by the storing of the acorns. 
Miss Pellew further states that she noticed that the board along the ridec 
pole of her house was curling up, and on investigation it was found that under 
this board for a distance of from 8 to 10 feet from the eaves were decayed and 
half decayed acorns to a depth of at least 1 inch, and a friend of hers had the 
Same experience. 
Tt is well known that the Red-heads disvossess other birds of their nesting 
sites in the holes of trees, and even destroy their eggs and kill their youne: 
but the following observation by Bendire given in his ‘‘Life Histories’’ is in 
some respects unique. He saw a Red-head eat part of a young bird, probabix 
a bluebird, and store away the remainder ‘‘behind the loose bark of an oak 
post’’. This was in Holland Patent, New York. Visiting the place the follow- 
ing morning, he found that the remains were gcne and. though definite proof 
was wanting, he inferred, probably correctly, that the bird had returned to its 
store and eaten the remains of its victim. 
In view of the above interesting observations it seems highly probable 
that the Red-head is more of a food storer than our seanty records indicate, and 
that elsewhere than in the locations mentioned it depends to a greater or less 
extent upon food laid by for future needs. 
