Bird Study 



77 



THE FLICKER OR YELLOW-HAMMER 



Teacher's Story 



Young flickers "Two is company, 



three is a crowd." 

 Photo by J. M. Schreck. 



The first time I ever saw a flicker I 

 said, "What a wonderful meadow- 

 lark and what is it doing on that 

 ant hill?" But, another glance 

 revealed to me a red spot on the 

 back of the bird's neck, and as soon 

 as I was sure that it was not a 

 bloody gash, I knew that it marked 

 no meadow-lark. The top of the 

 flicker's head and its back are slaty- 

 gray, which is much enlivened by 

 a bright red band across the nape 

 of the neck. The tail is black above 

 and yellow tipped with black below; 

 the wings are black, but have a 

 beautiful luminous yellow beneath, 

 which is very noticeable during 

 flight. There is a locket adorning 

 the breast which is a thin, black 

 crescent, much narrower than that 

 of the meadow-lark. Below the 

 locket, the breast is yellowish white 



thickly marked with circular, black spots. The throat and sides of the 

 head are pinkish brown, and the male has a black mustache extending 

 backward from the beak with a very fashionable droop. Naturally 

 enough the female, although she resembles her spouse, lacks his mus- 

 tache. The beak is long, strong, somewhat curved and dark colored. 

 This bird is distinctly larger than the robin. The white patch on the 

 rump shows little or none when the bird is at rest, for this white mark is 

 a "color call," it being a rear signal by means of which the flock of 

 migrating birds are able to keep together in the night. The yellow- 

 hammer's flight is wave-like and' "jerky and quite different from that 

 of the meadow-lark; nor does it stay so constantly in the meadows 

 but often frequents woods and orchards. 



The flicker has many names, such as golden-winged woodpecker, 

 yellow-hammer, high-hole, yarup, wake-up, clape and many others. It 

 earned the name of high-hole because of its habit of excavating its nest 

 high up in trees, usually between ten and twenty-five feet from the 

 ground. It especially loves an old apple tree as a site for a nest, and 

 most of our large old orchards can boast of a pair of these handsome birds 

 during the nesting season of May and June. The flicker is not above 

 renting any house he finds vacant, excavated by some other birds last 

 year. He earned his name of yarup or wake-up from his spring song, 

 which is a rollicking, jolly "wick-a, wick-a, wick-a-wick" a song com- 

 monly heard the last of March or early April. The chief food of the flicker 

 is ants, although it also eats beetles, flies and wild fruit, but does little or 

 no damage to planted crops. So long has it fed upon ants, that its tongue 

 has become modified, like that of the ant-eater; it is covered with a 

 sticky substance; and when it is thrust into an ant hill, all of the little 



