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OUR HOME BIRDS. 
’is of the color and consistency of ivory, very strong 
and elegantly fluted. 
u ‘ The strength of this woodpecker is such/ says 
one well acquainted with him, ‘ that I have seen it 
detach pieces of bark seven or eight inches in length 
at a single blow of its powerful bill, and, by begin- 
ning at the top branch of a dead tree, tear off the 
bark to an extent of twenty or thirty feet in the 
course of a few hours, leaping forward with its body 
in an upright position, tossing its head to the right 
and left, or leaning it against the bark to ascertain 
the precise spot where the grubs were concealed, and 
immediately after renewing its blows with fresh vigor, 
all the while sounding its loud notes as if highly 
delighted/ 
“The California woodpecker has some very re- 
markable attractions. It is one of the most hand- 
some of the family, and is very provident for the 
future, laying by food for the winter when its search 
for insects must cease. A writer on California says : 
‘In stripping off the bark of this tree, I observed 
it to be perforated with holes, larger than those which 
a musket-ball would make, shaped with the most ac- 
curate precision, as if bored under the guidance of 
a rule and compass, and many of them filled most 
neatly with acorns. Earlier in the season I had re- 
marked such holes in most of all the soft timber, but 
