Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1898-07-14


great traveller, recounts some of the
strange scenes he has witnessed for
st. Nicholas. He contributes a pa
per entitled GA Birds Storehouse;
or, The Carpenter Bird" Mr.. ODER
says:
He is a handsome bird, and if there
were not so many of his species he
would attract a great deal Of atten-
ton. He has bright red head,
black and white body and a needle
pointed tail. The tail supports him
in perpendicular position on the
side of a tree while he is hammer
ing, or rather chiseling, hole in its
bark.
Now, all woodpeckers, having
sharp pointed beaKs and very strong
muscles in their necks and heads,
can drive deep hole into the side
of a tree or stump, but this Califor-
MIA woodpecker is said to surpass
them all as hole digger, and he
not only digs the hole, but he fills it
up with nut or an acorn.
This is the strangest part of his
performance, for, while a great
many other birds have the hole dig.
ging instinct, there are very few Of
them that possess the hole filling in
stinct The blue jays and the squir-
rels have habit of accommodating
supplies in the shape of nuts and
acorns, and you may see them al
most any day in autumn snatching
the acorns from twigs and branches
The same instinct prompts this
woodpecker to lay in his stores of
acorns Some people say, however,
that he never resorts to these sup
plies again, but just lays them up
without a thought as to the future
at all. But this is not the way with
nature. She does not work blindly,
but always with some wise purpose
in view
| At any rate, this bird can drill a
hole in the very hardest wood, and
at this business he is employed al
most all the time. The holes are
usually made in rows, at regular dis
tances apart, each about the size of
an acorn. He is never discouraged
and never gives up task, even
though it may seem most formid-
able. He has been known to sur
round giant redwood tree, over 90
feet in circumference, with rings of
holes, one above another, from the
root to the topmost limb, for over
200 feet. say Che did it, but !!
mean, of course, generation after
generation of them, for many, many
years.
After he has got the hole or holes
to his liking he flies off to the near
est oak tree and secures an acorn,
which he brings to the storehouse
tree and places in the little safety
deposit" he has made for it. 1t fits
exactly, and go, inserting it sharp
end first, he hits it repeatedly with
his beak and drives it in to stay till
needed.
So long as the woodpecker con.
fines his harvesting to the acorns no
one except the Indians, who fire..
quently store them up for winter
food, will have anything to say, but
this he does not do. 1t is said that
he likes nuts as we'll, and a story is
told of family of woodpeckers that
completely stripped small grove Of
almond trees. The owner of the
grove thought he must have good
crop, and when the time came to
gather it he went to do so, and, 10,
there was not nut on any tree
But one of his boys, in foraging
about, found an immense old oak
which was partly decayed and rid
died with holes from top to bottom,
and in each hole was an almond! So
the tree was cut down, and the man
secured several bushels of almonds
after all; but the woodpeckers scold
ed him loudly.