BY THE WAYSIDE 
21 
SCHOOL BRAN CH DEPARTM ENT 
Every Wisconsin School Branch is required to subscribe for at least one copy of BY THE WAYSIDE 
Letters to this department should be 
written on only one side of the page, should 
give name, age and address of the writer 
and should be mailed by the first of the 
month; Illinois writers sending to Miss 
Mary A. Hardman, Academy of Sciences, 
Chicago, Ill., and Wisconsin writers to Mr. 
Roland E. Kremers, Madison, Wis. To 
each writer whose letter is published will 
be sent an illustrated leaflet on some bird. 
For the best letter each month we will send 
a second leaflet. Preference will be given 
to letters about the bird study for the 
month and to original observations. 
Any Wisconsin society may, by paying 
the express, have the use of the Cordon and 
Merrill Libraries of bird books by applying 
to Mr. Kremers. 
Wisconsin parties should apply to the 
University Extension Division, Madison, for 
colored bird slides. Illinois Schools may 
use. without expense, a library or a lecture 
with lantern slides, by applying to Miss 
Runnel, Academy of Sciences, Chicago. 
The Redheaded Woodpecker 
The redheaded woodpecker is doubt¬ 
less one of your summer friends, 
for you need no other introduction to 
him than his name; he is all that it 
says and nothing more. Perhaps you 
have not met him as often in winter. 
At least we who live in the vicinity of 
Madison, Wisconsin, do not often see 
him in this season. The older ornithol¬ 
ogists tell us that this bird is increas¬ 
ing gradually yet markedly. In sum¬ 
mer it was found none too frequently 
and in winter scarcely at all. Now we 
find it everywhere in summer and fre¬ 
quently in winter. 
In this vicinity we occasionally get 
reports of the presence of individuals 
during the winter, but it is an unusual 
occurrence to find them almost wher¬ 
ever you look for them. You will 
doubtless wish to know why this is. A 
plausible explanation seems to be as 
follows: 
The redheaded woodpecker has in 
common with other members of his; 
genus a strong liking for acorns and 
beechnuts. This is shown by observa¬ 
tion, for it has been noted that in years 
when mast was abundant the red¬ 
heads remained in unusual numbers. 
That is just what has happened this 
year. Last fall the oaks were loaded 
t/ 
with an abundant yield of acorns. Ap¬ 
parently the birds took notice of this 
fact and have remained here in unu¬ 
sual numbers. 
Not only is this an interesting exam¬ 
ple of how some birds will remain in 
localities which they ordinarily leave 
when nothing more than an unusual 
abundance of a favorite food seems to 
cause them to do so, but also we note 
some very instructive relations. You 
will remember that oaks do not retain 
their acorns over winter as some do 
their leaves, so that if the wood- 
peckers did not take precautions, 
they would soon find their food under 
the snow beyond their reach. This, 
hoAvever, does not bother the red¬ 
heads, for they have learned to hoard 
nuts just as the squirrels do. 
All fall the redheads in our neigh¬ 
borhood have been storing acorns and 
Ave have had much pleasure watching 
them go back and forth to gather and 
to deposit their food supply for the 
winter. All conceivable nooks and 
corners are employed. Now it is a 
cavity in a tree which they fill, now the 
furrows in the bark of a burr-oak; per- 
