118 Ngee ys le SEN THE CONDOR: == Vol. XXIII 
for close examination by a small bore rifle. It was then found that the attack 
by the birds was even more serious than it appeared, for they had punctured 
the skin in places along the back and drawn blood with their sharp bills, and 
in time, perhaps, might have killed the rodent. 
The California Woodpecker is not exceptional in its hatred of its tradi- 
tional enemy, the squirrel, and Merriam, as above cited, was witness to at- 
tacks by the Red-head on both the grey and the black squirrel. Evidently the 
woodpeckers of the Adirondack region iook upon the crop of beech nuts as 
peculiarly their own, and promptly resent on the part of outsiders any attempt 
to share in it. Not woodpeckers alone are a bit hazy in respect to property 
rights, and the enforcement of conflicting views on the subject often leads 
humans into acts that bear a curious analogy to the ones above noted. 
Take him all in all, the California Woodpecker presents a rarely inviting 
subject for study, especially with reference to the genesis and significance of 
its food storing habits. Since California at the present time is exceptionally 
fortunate in the number and activity of its bird students it is to be hoped that 
among them are those who will take up the subject systematically, and endea- 
vor to unravel the many puzzling questions that touch upon the life history of 
this beautiful and interesting species. 
Washington, D. C., May 15, 1921. 
THE STORAGE OF ALMONDS BY THE CALIFORNIA WOODPECKER 
By CLAUDE GIGNOUX | 
WITH ONE PHOTO 
N Saturday, March 26, 1921, I spent about two hours inspecting the lar- 
() ger trees and the buildings on the ranch of Mrs. Nora Thresher, in Butte 
County, California, to obtain information in regard to the storing of 
almonds by the California Woodpecker (Mclanerpes formicivorus bairdt). 
The three places at which we found almonds stored are close together near the 
ranch house. The locality is one quarter of a mile west of the Feather River, 
five miles northeast of Liveoak, four miles southeast of Gridley and one and 
a quarter miles east of the Manzanita School, and is in Township 17 N., Range 
3 K., M. D. B. and M. The country for several miles in every direction is 
practically level and very fertile and the mature native trees left standing 
are magnificent individual specimens. There are many fruit orchards in the 
section from Marysville to Gridley, and almonds are extensively grown far- 
ther north, around Durham. On the Thresher ranch there is a very heavy 
growth of trees and brush along the Feather River and this heavy growth 
extends a considerable distance in both directions along the river beyond the 
boundaries of the ranch. 
Mr. Gerald J. Chalmers, whose ranch adjoins the Thresher ranch, had told 
me that he had found almonds stored in the bark of an oak tree, on the 
Thresher ranch, which had been cut down about the middle of February, 1921, 
