216 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



Northern Flicker ; Golden-winged Woodpecker. 



Cola^tes auratus luteus 

 12.00 



Ad. $. — Head grayish-brown, a scarlet baud across nape of 

 neck ; back brown, barred with bhick ; wings and tail black ; 

 shafts and under sides of ivings and tail-feathers golden-yellow ; 

 rump white; throat pinkish-brown ; line along side of throat and 

 band across upper breast black ; rest of under parts huffy, 

 marked with round black spots. Ad. ^. — Similar, but without 

 the black line along the side of the throat. 



Nest^ in a hole in a dead limb. Eggs, white. 



Near the sea-coast, from Massachusetts southward, and in 

 the lower Hudson Valley, the Flicker is not uncommon in 



Fig. 65. Northern Flicker 



winter. In the rest of New England it is only a summer 

 resident, common everywhere except in the northern 

 heavily-forested regions. The migrants return in March or 

 April, and are then extremely noisy ; their loud ivick wick 

 ■wick wick is one of the characteristic sounds of a bright 

 spring morning. This is generally the cry of the male only, 

 who also delivers at this season a tattoo on a resonant limb, 

 which may often be heard in the pauses of the loud call. 



