NORTHERN FLICKER 269 



the following account of rather peculiar behavior of a flicker while 

 excavating its nest: 



Found a Flicker at work excavating a hole in an apple-tree in Bensen's 

 orchard. I was passing the tree within six feet when I heard a low tapping, 

 accompanied by a continuous muffled whining sound. Turning, I at once saw 

 the bird's tail projecting from the hole, which was not over five feet above 

 the ground. For a minute or more the pecking and whining continued unin- 

 terniptedly, the tail wriggling violently the while. Evidently the bird had 

 carried in the hole to just that point where she had less room to work than 

 she had had before or would have afterwards. In other words, she had just 

 about reached the point where the entrance hole must begin to be expanded 

 into a chamber and to turn downward. It seemed to me that the whining sound 

 expressed rage or impatience. Perhaps it was the Flicker's form of swearing ! 



The northern flicker seems to show no very decided preference 

 for any one species of tree in its choice of a nesting site, though I 

 believe it does prefer a dead tree, or a dead stub on a living tree, or 

 a tree that has a soft or partially decayed heart. It has always 

 seemed to me that in New England we find more nests in large apple 

 trees in old orchards than elsewhere, the nest being excavated in the 

 main trunk, or large upright branch, at no great height from the 

 ground. Such trees may have a hard outer shell, but the interior is 

 often more or less soft. Old orchards are becoming scarce in my 

 vicinity, which forces the flickers to look elsewhere. Next in im- 

 portance here as a common nesting site is the trunk or stub of a dead 

 white pine tree. Mr. Burns (1900) mentions one dead pine "per- 

 forated with 25 or 30 holes, most of which were in use at one time 

 or another." He lists, as favorite trees in the Middle and Eastern 

 States, "apple, sycamore, oak, butternut, cherry, elm, chestnut, maple, 

 poplar, beech, ash, pine, hickory, etc." In Pennsylvania, he says that 

 J. Warren Jacobs has "found the sycamore to be the favorite, with 

 the apple and maple second, the beech and locust third, oak and 

 cherry fourth, and all other varieties fifth." 



Mr. Burns continues: "From Ohio westward the apple orchard 

 is a favorite with the poplar, willow, maple, oak, elm, walnut, cot- 

 tonwood, etc., more or less resorted to, according to availability. It 

 very seldom nests in a living coniferous tree, though it has been 

 known to nest in a living red cedar and in dead hemlocks and spruces." 



Telegraph, telephone, and other tall poles, as well as fenceposts, 

 are favorite nesting sites in the prairie regions and other parts of 

 the West, where trees are scarce. Frank L. Farley writes to me that 

 in the timbered country of northern Alberta, "where there are many 

 suitable nesting trees and stubs, the telephone and telegraph poles 

 are frequently used for nesting. These poles are usually cedar and 

 it is assumed that the birds prefer these for nesting, because of the 

 ease with which they can excavate." 



