448 



THE RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 



ous birds had re- 

 moved, not after 

 the famihar pick 

 and kick fashion 

 of most bank 

 dehing species, 

 Iwt by the 1)eak- 

 fiil, as Wood- 

 l>eckers should. 



Frnni six to ten 

 liit^hl}- piihshed, 

 semi-transparent, 

 wliite eggs are 

 laid upon the rot- 

 ten w o o d or 

 chips, which usu- 

 all\' line a nest; 

 and incubation 

 liegins customa- 

 rily when the last 

 egg is laid. Ben- 

 dire notes an in- 

 stance, in the 

 Blue Mountains 

 of Oregon, of a 

 Flicker's nest 

 which contained 

 at one time tliree 

 young birds just 

 h a t c h e d. two 

 ]iipped eggs, and 

 fi\e perfectly 

 fresh eggs, of 

 wliicli one was a 

 runt. 



The female is a close sitter and instances are on record where pebbles 

 dropped in upon her have failed to dislodge her, or where once being lifted off 

 she brushed passed the disturber to re-enter the nest. Altho provided with a hill 

 which might prove a formidable weapon, the Flicker is of too gentle a nature 

 to wield it in combat, and seldom offers any resistance whatever to the intruder. 



After fourteen days young birds are hatched, blind, ugly, iielpless. In a 

 few days more, however, they are able ti) cling to the sides of the nesting 



Tahcu in Oregon. Photo by A. ]V . Anthony. 



NEST AND EGGS OF RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 



