282 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



call may be taken as especially representative of song, and is a char- 

 acteristic sound of the empty woodland of early spring. It is usually 

 given from some high perch, and has a free, far-reaching quality, 

 that gives it the effect of a signal thrown out over the barren country, 

 as if to arouse sleeping nature. This call continues irregularly 

 through the summer, but then loses much of its prominence amid the 

 multitude of bird voices. It is not infrequent in September, but later 

 than the middle of October I have not heard it." 



This is a sharp, penetrating note, which can be heard at a long 

 distance; the syllables loich^ wich^ mick, wick^ or yuck^ yuck, yuck^ 

 yuck, are very rapidly uttered and repeated in long series. Dr. Elon 

 H. Eaton (1914) says that "it may be heard for more than half a 

 mile and has been variously syllabized, usually written as ^cuK- 

 cuh-cuh-cuJi\^'' which hardly represents my idea of the song. 



A softer note, heard during active courtship and display, sounds 

 like wake-up, wake-up, wake-up, or yarrup, yarrup, yarrup, given 

 more deliberately in subdued tones and not so prolonged. This has 

 been referred to as the scythe-sharpening, or rollicking, song and has 

 also been written as yucker, yucker, yucker, or wicker, wicker, wicker, 

 or hixik-up, hick-up, hick-up, or flicker, -flicker, flicker. Mr. Bicknell 

 (1885) has recorded these notes from April 8 to September 5; there 

 seems to be no seasonal regularity about them, as they are probably 

 affectionate notes of greeting. Mr. Burns (1900) "heard an ap- 

 parently rare variation, a metallic Ka-ioick-wick-wick-ioick-ioick- 

 wick-wick-wick-wick-iDick-ka by the male while close to the nest." 



He gives as conversational, or soliloquizing notes, "commonly a 

 scanny, gurgling, almost involuntary chur-r-r-r as danger seems to 

 threaten it when on the wing, or when flushed from the ground or 

 just before a-lighting, which may be interpreted as a note of warning 

 or aimouncement of arrival according to the circumstances. I have 

 heard a low guttural loho-del as it endeavored to balance itself on a 

 slender branch immediately after arrival." A bird on a house 

 roof, in December, "uttered an odd guttural call of huck-a-uwo-ah or 

 again only woo woo evidently for his own edification." Other soft 

 conversational notes sound like owit-ouit, or puir-puir, or a cooing 

 yu-cah-yu-cah. 



Dr. Eaton (1914) says : "When the flicker flies up from the ground 

 and alights on a stub or fence post, he frequently bobs and bows 

 to an imaginary audience and immediately thereafter jerks his head 

 high upward giving voice to a sharp note like the syllable 'clape.' " 

 This is a loud, explosive note and may indicate defiance or surprise. 



A common note, oftenest heard during summer and fall, is a 

 plaintive call suggesting one of the notes of the blue jay or the red- 

 shouldered hawk. It is a loud and rather musical note, which has 

 been variously interpreted as pee-ut, ye-a-up, pee-up, que-ah, kee-yer, 



