The San Francisco call., 1898-08-05
A WooDPEcKER CAMPAIGN.

DOLITICAL contests begin much earlier in the DEastern States than on this coast and as con sequence the classification and naming of new political features as they appear III each succeeong campaign devolve upon the experts of that regloh In the contest that is now approaching the most notable feature is the determination ot the Demo crats to make the fight State issues oniy HIS IS such novelty in our politics that 1t requires name of its own to avoid confusion, and accordingly the Eastern authorities on political nomenclature have by general consent agreed to call 1t woodpecker campaign.
 The name will be perplexing to some It IS but short time ago that Democracy was httng aoout the country as a cuckoo answering to that call very readily and its appearance this year as woodpecker it must be admitted is somewhat surprising. In fact there is no telling to what extent these rapid variety changes may po The old Democratic bird that be- gan its career as game rooster may yet wind up as pewee.
 Surprising as the name may be, however 1t has not been inapty chosen, any one may learn who chooses to make study of woodpeckers in relation to Democrats The Century Dictionary tells us there are 25o species of woodpeckers, and it is well known there just that many kinds of Democratic factions If this be sufficient proof that the two creatures are birds of feather all doubts will be re- moved by the further statement of the dictionary that the woodpecker Is scansorial, saurognathus, sagittalngua pecarian; that the tongue IS capable of being thrust far of the mouth and is lunbrici form.
 With these facts before and with the campaign rapidly approaching in our beloved State it is clearly the duty of intelligent patriots to study woodpeckerS Of the many species of the bird there some of special interest by of their numbers on this coast and the part they likely to play in the contest The most common of these IS the Calitor- nian woodpecker, Melanorpes formicivorus de- scribed in the Encyclopedia Britannica as the most provdent bird n the woods, but withal senseless that he cannot distinguish acorn from pebble, being about apt to pick up the one as the other on his foraging expeditions This IS the kind ot woodpecker that in a political furry would pick up such a hard old Populist pebble as Mcguire and think 1t good stuff.
 Another local species deserving attention IS the hairy woodpecker Picus dendrocopus vlosus rural creature of the Afford type, hard to be dis tinguished from jay, and also incapable ot knowing pebble from an acorn until after swallowing it. Next come the yellow belied woodpeckers, com monly known as sapsuckers but recognized among politicians as papsuckers. These yellow fellows exemplifed in the McNab specimen and generally nest with the Hearstlings.
 We may pass the gilded woodpecker, species of gold bug yotary who will not be conspicuous in the campaign, but cannot ignore the briste-beied woodpecker of the genus asyndesmus Many people who have never heard of woodpecker with br1stleS will be inclined doubt the existence of this species If such people however, will only look around they will perceive good many of the bristling kind As matter of fact Tn some instances in that of the Harney bird, the brstles just even more conspicuous than the feathers and the species is at tested mainly by the sagittalngual tongue.
 With such variety of the game i'll sight California ought to make something like picnic out of the woodpecker campaign. It remains to be said only that in this State there is close season for wood peckers. Anybody may take pot shot at them at any time.