The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-01
THE wOoDFECKERs PRISONER.
How Pair Of These Birds Impris-
oned Ground owl.
From the Overland Monthly.

from the overland monthly.
The American species of woodpeckers
are very numerous. So widely distributed
are they. and so distinguished everywhere
for their industry sober and provident
habits that 1t has occurred to me that if
Uncle Sam does ever really beat his
swords and spears into pillow shares and
pruning hooks. it will be appropriate to
transfer the honor or being the emblem
OF the republic from the eagle to the wood
peckerl Its facility of adapting itself to
any portion of the country. from the Can
adam boundaries to the frontier of Next
co, and its disposition to make the best Of
whatever locality it inhabits, are promi-
nent among its many virtuous traits
But the species here 10 be described is
that termed the ivory billed woodpecker,
having for its habitat the southern states,
Northern Mexico, and California Cam
pelophilus principalis). 1t is probably far
more numerous in Southern California
than in any other portion Of the Americas.
1t is called by Spanish-Americans FL Car
pantero. from the quantity of chips and
the carpenter like hammering it makes
Thus it was that the prosperous town of
La Carpinteria, in the Santa Barbara val
ley, received its name.
Where Carpinteria stands now there
was a large live oak grove at the period
of Spanish occupation, and during the
season of maturing acorns the whole
southern end of the valley was resonant
with the hammering of the Carpinteros,
slowing away their supplies. This they
do by perforating the bark of the liveoak
to the proper depth with holes exactly
proportional to the size and shape of the
acorn to be deposited in each, into which
anx he nj her
end of the acorn is flush with the surface
or Just little deeper. and so tight that no
other bird or squirrel can draw the nut
from it's socket. To take them out even
with the joint Of a penknife requires ex-
perience, unless the bark be cut entirely
away. The birds themselves when they
require meal drive their bills straight in
the larger end of an acorn and a sharp
twitch in a direct line backward brings it
out.
The holes are drilled in straight horizon
tai lines generally around half the tree,
the southern side, or, If it be a leaning
tree, the under side sheltered from the
rain. The lines run parallel to each other,
and beginning three or four feet above the
ground, extend upward as far as the
thickness of the bark viii admit, unless
operations are intercepted by too hume
rous branches. The space occupied is for
the most part four or nVe feet in length
by half the circumference of the liyeoaks.
other trees rarely being used.
The birds feed in part on fruits and seed,
besides acorns, as well as on insects,
They may be heard at a considerable dis
lance tapping the wood of trees With their
bills, to discover the place where an in
sect is lodged, and to get at il when dis
covered. The common notion that they
are very injurious to the trees is ERRONEOUS.
as they do more good by preventing the
ravages Of insects than they
do harm by their continual peckings
Besides, it is only upon the decayed por-
tions Of the trees that they operate, ex-
cept in the case of slowing away the
acorns in the live bark of the oak. the
most vigorous of these indicating that
from time immemorial their coverings
have been perforated without apparent
harm.
The birds strike out chips Of wood with
their strong bills, and in this way enlarge
holes in decayed parts Of trees for a