SOUTHERN FLICKER 261 



visiting the nest May 5, seven days later, it contained seven fresh eggs and 

 the old one that had been left. * * * This was undoubtedly a case of 

 discontinuous laying unless she had dropped her eggs on the ground while 

 the squirrel was occupying the nest. 



Mrs. Sanford Duncan (1932), of Nashville, Tenn., tells an interest- 

 ing story of a flicker that was captured by a bullsnake. She heard a 

 great commotion among the birds in her yard and went out to in- 

 vestigate the cause of the excitement. "The Flickers were leading the 

 battle, dashing and darting at a bundle of something on the ground. 

 Closer inspection with field glasses showed it was a snake, all tied 

 up in a curious knot. He was too big for me to attack with the hoe 

 I had, so I shot into the 'bundle' with a shotgun. As if by magic 

 the snake flung himself into the air and fell, straightened out, over 

 five feet long, and disclosed a full-grown Flicker that he had wrapped 

 himself around many times. The Flicker was still alive, but died 

 very shortly, probably from the gunshot that killed the bullsnake." 



Lester W. Smith writes to me that he watched a southern flicker 

 digging white grubs out of a lawn and killing them by repeated blows 

 and shaking; meantime a loggerhead shrike was attempting to rob 

 the flicker of its prey. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Bange.— North America, chiefly east of the Kocky Mountains, and 

 from the limit of trees south to the Gulf coast. 



Breeding range. — The breeding range of the flicker extends north 

 to Alaska (Circle) ; northwestern Mackenzie (probably Fort Mc- 

 Pherson, Fort Anderson, McVicar Bay, Fort Eae, and Hill Island 

 Lake) ; northern Saskatchewan (Eeindeer Lake) ; northern Manitoba 

 (probably Lake Du Brochet and Fort Churchill) ; Ontario (Lac Seul 

 and probably Moose Factory) ; Quebec (probably Fort George, prob- 

 ably Lake Mistassini, Godbout, and Mingan Island) ; and Labrador 

 (Cartwright). From this northeastern point the range extends 

 southward through Newfoundland, along the Atlantic coast to Key 

 West, Fla. The southern limits of nesting are the Gulf coasts of 

 Florida and Alabama, thence in the interior to Louisiana (St. Fran- 

 cisviUe and Genoa) ; and Oklahoma (Okmulgee and Norman). West 

 lo Oklahoma (Norman) ; central Kansas (Harper, Hay, and Stock- 

 ton) ; Nebraska (Red Cloud, Alda, and Chadron) ; eastern Wyoming 

 (Midwest and Newcastle) ; Montana (Terry, Fairview, and Great 

 Falls) ; Alberta (Morrin, Henry House, and Lesser Slave Lake) ; 

 nortliwestern British Columbia (Telegraph Creek and Atlin) ; Yukon 

 (Caribou Crossing and Selkirk) ; and eastern Alaska (Circle). This 

 species, more or less crossed with the red-shafted flicker {Colaptes c. 

 coUaris), also is found occasionally in eastern Colorado (Hallvale, 

 Denver, and Fort Morgan). 



