DAMAGE TO WOODEN STRUCTUI 13 
6390 broke as above shown it was reset and tested as a 30-foot pole, 
and it broke at the new ground line (40£ inches circumference) under 1,000 pounds 
corrected load. It had a 2^-inch shell at break. Estimated breaking weight as a 
30-foot pole. 2.500 pout 
Pole 3 g :und at the ground and set in wet rock hole, with about 10 inches 
of clay on top. At 3.000 pounds, actual reading, the dynamometer slipped. The 
load was applied for 300 pounds more, when the rope broke and test was abandoned. 
Pole No. 6372. at 1.100 pounds, corrected load, gave way at ground, but did not 
quite break off. There were 10 woodpecker holes between 15 and 20 feet above 
ground, as follows: 
13 feet above ground 3 by 3 inches. 4 inches deep. 
17 feet above ground 3 by 3 inches. 5 inches deep. 
18 feet above ground 3 by 3 inches, 3 inches deep. 
19 feet above ground 3 by 3 inches. 5 inches deep. 
At fifth gain, 30-inch circumference. 6 smaller holes. 
It appears, therefore, that the attack of poles by these birds is not as serious as one 
would be prone to believe, and. taking into account the great good that they do in 
eating insects, the destruction of our feathered friends can by no means be justified 
by the injury they do to pole- line construction. 
DAMAGE T< > FENCE- AND BUDLDENGfi 
The downy, hairy. Texas. California, and red-headed woodpeck- 
er- and both the yellow-shafted and the red-shafted flicker are 
known t' te holes in fence and gate posts, but the loss is much 
hanin case of telephone poles. Indeed, it is probable that in 
most here woodpeckers nest in fence posts about yards and 
farms the owner is glad to have them there because of the number 
of insects they destroy. To say the least, it would be an advantage 
to have them nest in fence posts rather than orchard trees, for instance, 
and they would still visit the trees to glean inse 
A- woodpeckers te poles and fence posts, it is not surprising 
that they attack other wooden structures. The usual type of injury 
of this class is drilling holes into cornices or under eaves of bouses or 
piercing the walls of barns and she ds 
Buildings that are unoccupied most of the time, as schoolhouses 
and churches, are frequently defaced, church towers or steeples being 
rite points of attack. The red-headed woodpecker is an old 
offender in this respect, and a case is recorded ' where in one season 
ere killed one after another while attempting to 
make a nest in a church steeple. During the caretaker's absence a 
pair finally completed a nest and reared their young. The red-bellied 
woodpecker also sometimes makes holes in houses, but the flick 
the yellow-shafted in the East and the red-shafted in the West — are 
the woodpeckers that show the strongest predilection for boring into 
buildings. Often many holes are made in the same wall. (PL V, fig. 1.) 
Apparently the birds learn little by experience, but keep on drilling 
*>p. L. J., American Naturalist. IV, 60S, VStO. 
