PICIDJE: WOODPECKERS. 493 



will find specimens auratus on one side of the body, iiiexicanus on the other, — tail gilded on 

 soitu; tVathers, rubricated on others, etc. 



457. c. aura'tus. (Lat. auratus, golden, gilded. Figs. 344, 345.) Golden-winged Woodpecker. 

 Pigeon Woodpecker. Flicker. Yucker. High-holder. Back and exposed surfaces 

 of wing-coverts and secondaries olive-brown with numerous black bars. Rump snowy- white; 

 nnper tail-coverts white, mixed wdtli black. Primaries blackish, with golden shafts, and glossed 

 with golden underneath, at their bases paler and more tawny yellow. Tail-feathers above black, 

 their shafts and under surfaces golden, blackened at ends, the outermost with a few touches of 

 vellow or white. Top of head, with back and sides of neck, ash, with a scarlet nuchal band (in 

 both sexes). Sides of head, whole chin, throat, and fore-breast lilac-brown, with broad black 

 cheek patches, these ' moustaches ' wanting usually in the 9 . A broad black pectoral semi- 

 lune. Other under parts shading from a lighter shade of the color of the breast into creamy- 

 yellow, marked with numerous circular black spots. Bill and feet dark plumbeous. Iris brown. 

 Length 12.00-13.00; extent 18.00-21.00, usually about 20.00; wing .5.75-6.25; tail 4.50; bill 

 1.25-1.50; whole foot 2.33. Young similar : more red on head. Eastern North Am. ; keeping 

 pretty straight to the upper Missouri, where, as said, adulterating with mexicanus; pure to the 

 Pacific in Alaska. The first deviation is the appearance of red feathers in the black maxillary 

 patches ; these increase till they prevail, finally to the exclusion of the black, resulting in the 

 wholly red patch of C. mexicanus. With this change occurs the diminution and final extinction 

 of the scarlet nuchal crescent; when, coincidently, we find the characteristic golden-yellow on 

 the wings and tail passing through an intennediate orange into the red of mexicanus, a change 

 accompanied with another aff'ecting the peculiar lilac-brown of the throat and olive-brown of 

 the back, which become respectively ashen and purplish-gray. One of the most abundant and 

 best-known species of the family, in any woodland, and sometimes foraging for food in open 

 country far from trees ; a great ant-eater. A lively bird, of sunny temperament, like its 

 feathers, faithful and devoted, assiduous and successful in domestic affairs, and a good house- 

 keeper. Eggs usually G or 7 ; under exceptional circumstances 18 to 23 have been taken from 

 one hole ; averaging 1.10 X 0.90. Migratory northerly. 



458. C. chrysoi'des. (Gr. xpv(r6s, chrusos, gold ; el8os,eidos, like.) Gilded Woodpecker. Body, 

 wings and tail, substantially as in auratus; head as in mexicanus; ^ with scarlet moustaches ; 

 no red on nape in either sex ; crown lilac-brown ; chin, throat, and fore-breast ash ; sides 

 tinged with creamy-brown, belly with yellowish. There are, however, some specialties. 

 Golden of wings and tail less vivid than in auratus; tail-feathers black for about half their 

 length. General tone of under parts pale, without the decided tints of either of the other 

 species, the round black spots large and crowded. Top of head purer and more cinnamon 

 brown than in mexicanus. Smaller: wing about 5.50 ; tail about 4.00. Gradation between 

 this fonn and mexicanus has not yet been observed. Valley of the Colorado River, Lower 

 California and southward. 



459. ^- mexica'nus. (Of Mexico.) Red-shafted Woodpecker. Mexican Flicker. Back, 

 rump, aud upper surfaces of wings and tail as in C. auratus, but a different shade of color, a 

 faintly reddish replacing the olivaceous tinge of the ground-color. Wings and tail of the same 

 pattern, but the auration replaced by rubefaction. Top of head rufous (like the throat of 

 auratus) ; no occipital red crescent in either sex. Throat and sides of head and neck clear 

 ash, with scarlet maxillary patches in the ^J. A black pectoral semilune. Under parts very 

 pale lilac-brown, fading to whitish on the belly, marked with numerous round black spots. 

 Bill blackish -slate ; feet dark plumbeous. Iris brown. Size of C. auratus. Western North 

 Am., mostly replacing the yellow flicker from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, Sitka into 

 Mexico. In habits a perfect counterpart of the common flicker. 



