The following graphic and intelligent account, to the same purpose, is from Kelly’s Excursion to California, and is evidently from the pen of an excellent observer and an agreeable writer:
“In stripping off the bark of this tree, I observed it to be perforated with holes, larger than those which a musket ball would make, shaped with the most accurate precision as if bored under the guidance of a rule and compass, and many of them filled most neatly with acorns. Earlier in the season I had remarked such holes in most of all the softer timber, but imagining that they were caused by wood insects, I did not stop to examine or inquire, but now finding them studded with acorns, firmly fixed in, which I knew could not have been driven there by the wind, I sought for an explanation, which was practically given me by Captain S——’s pointing out a flock of woodpeckers, busily and noisily employed in the provident task of securing the winter’s provision. For it appears that this sagacious bird is not all the time thriftlessly engaged in ‘tapping the hollow beach tree’ for the mere idle purpose of empty sound, but spends its summer season in picking these holes, in which it lays its store of food for the winter, where the elements can neither affect nor place it beyond their reach, and it is regarded as a sure omen that the snowy period is approaching when these birds commence stowing away their acorns, which otherwise might be covered by its fall. I frequently have paused from my chopping, to watch them in the neighborhood, with the acorns in their bills, half clawing, half flying around the tree, and have admired the adroitness with which they tried it at different holes until they found one of its exact calibre; when, inserting the pointed end, they tapped it home most artistically with the beak, and flew down for another.
“But the natural instinct of this bird is even more remarkable in the choice of the nuts, which are invariably found to be sound, whereas it is an utter impossibility in selecting them for roasting, to pick up a batch that will not have a large portion of them unfit for use, the most smooth and polished frequently containing a large grub generated within. Even the wily Digger Indian, with all his craft and experience, is unable to arrive at any thing like an unerring selection, while in a large bag full, that we took from the bark of our log, there was not one containing the slightest germ of decay. These woodpeckers never encroach on their packed stores until all the nuts on the surface of the ground are covered with snow, when they resort to those in the bark, and peck them of their contents without removing the shell from the hole. The bark of the pine tree, from its great thickness, and the ease of boring, is mostly sought for by these birds as their granary for the winter season.”
This extraordinary example of instinct is scarcely surpassed by any other which has been observed in the animal kingdom, and it is to be hoped that further accounts will be furnished by observers in the countries which it inhabits, respecting the bird which is endowed with such interesting and unusual habits.
This woodpecker is common in Mexico in woods on the table lands, and was observed by Mr. Pease also in the upper part of the tierra caliente. It was first introduced to notice from Mexican specimens received from the vicinity of Real del Monte by Mr. Swainson, a distinguished English naturalist, who first described it in the Philosophical Magazine, 1827, p. 439 (London.) It was observed in California previous to that country having become a part of the United States, by Mr. Nuttall, the eminent botanist and zoologist, who gave it a place in his Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada. Vol. I., p. 682 (Boston, 1840.)
Our figures are rather less than one-third of the size of life.
DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS.
Genus Melanerpes. Swainson, in Fauna Boreali Americana, Birds, p. 316, and Lardner’s Cabinet Cyclopedia, Birds, Vol. II. p. 310. London, 1837.
Bill straight, rather wide at the base and somewhat cylindrical, ridge of the upper mandible arched, and with a slightly developed lateral ridge on each side, nostrils basal, nearly concealed by projecting plumes. Wings long, first primary spurious, fourth and fifth usually longest, tail moderate, composed of broad and strong feathers. Tarsi and feet moderate or rather strong; two external toes before and behind, nearly equal. General form short and robust; color black, varied with red and white. Type M. erythrocephalus. (Linn.)
Melanerpes formicivorus. (Swainson.) Picus formicivorus. Swainson in Taylor’s Phil. Mag., 1827, (p. 439,) London. Picus melanopogon. Temminck, Pl. col. Vol. IV., pl. 451. Leyden, about 1829. Melampicos flavigula. Malherbe in Rev. et Mag. de Zool., 1849, p. 542? (Paris.)