San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-03-09
THEIR WILD GOOSE CHASE.
Damage Wrought by Woodpeckers
To Telegraph Poles Through the
nlusive Buzzings OF the
Wire.

| MANY a man has seen the gay little
woodpecker busily plying his trade OF
pecking away in the crevices OF the
bark on the trees after bugs, or WORKING
ont neatly rounded holes on the sheltered
sides of trees, which ne continually enters
and leaves during the day. Also is this
| feathered artisan to be found climbing up
and down the steep, sleek, weatherbeaten
telegraph poles, but as to his object in
spending his labor on this hard wood.
| which neither affords protection to the
bugs he feeds on, nor shelters the holes
which he so smoothly pecks in them, the
following item from scientific weekly,
ventures an opinion:
"Mr. J. d. PaSteur. inspector Of the
Post and Telegraph service at Java, COM
municated to DIR. f. A. Jeniink, in last
July, the following very curious and in
teresting facts about wOod-peckers, who
under the illusion that the buzzing sound
so apparent on applying the ear to tele-
graph poles, is caused by the vigorous eff.
forts of knawing or boring insects, maxi
ing large holes in the timber. on hope
less chase after such. He incloSeS a piece
of telegraph pole made of teak wood, with
two wood pecKerS, from the Kediri Resi-
dency, Java. The wood, which is of iron
hardness, is perforated with rather large
holes near The place where the insulatorS
had been attached.
"In the Paris electrical exhibition Of
1881. there was exhibited, as great
curiosity. a telegraph pole, sent from
Norway, which was perforated by a hole
seven centimeters in diamater. For a
long time the Norwegian administration
was uncertain to what cause to aScribe
this damage done to poles. which were
otherwise quite sound, till mere chance
finally revealed wood peckerS at work"
1t is a wellknOwn fact that southwest
Texas has Superabudqnce of the wood
pecker tribe. and the sleek cedar poles of
continually attacked by these birds.
Manager Milburn. of the local telephone
management while in conversation
with a reporter on the. matter.
remarked: 80 yes, we find that
considerable damage is being done to the
poles of the lines, that is. the territorial
lines. In the city, naturally, the poles
are unmoleSted, but just as soon as you
reach the outskirts of the town and get
out into the country, you begin to find
poles where these birds have started to
get in their work. They will bore right
through and through the nice red cedar,
sometimes one hole and often two. This,
of course, weakens the poles. and good
current of wind, or any heavy strain, will
cause them to snap right off,"
When asked why the wood peckers
seemed to be so fond of working
these telegraph poles. Manager
MiIburn replied that the line men say
that some small bug or other insect, gets
into the poles by boring their way in
from the top, and these birds then dig
through the poles in search of them.
''Then again, you see, our red cedar is
not as hard wood as the me quite or
some Of the trees of the forest, and it be-
comes an easy latter for the wood peck
ers to make an o Yening through the poles.
However, the theory, you refer to, that
the birds are misled by the buzzing hum
ming sounds of the telegraph or telephone
wire, may be correct. l have not looked
into the matter very much. The fact re-
mains, however, that the damage done by
the wood peckersl to the territorial lines
of the company,is very considerable