290 BULLETIN 17 4, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Eggs. — The red-shafted flicker lays five to twelve eggs to a set. 

 Probably, if the experiment were tried, it would prove to be as 

 prolific an egg layer as its eastern relative, though I have found 

 no evidence to that effect. The eggs are indistinguishable from 

 those of the northern flicker. The measurements of 57 eggs average 

 28.18 by 21.85 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes 

 measure 35.56 by 20.32, 27.94 by 24.89, 25.40 by 20.83, and 27.68 by 

 19.30 millimeters. 



Young. — Mrs. Wheelock (1904) says of the young: "For nearly 

 three weeks they are fed by regurgitation, and after that time the 

 insects brought are masticated by the parents. * * * 



"After they are old enough to leave the nursery, they follow their 

 parents about for nearly two weeks, begging to be fed and gradu- 

 ally learning to hunt for themselves. This lesson is wisely taught 

 by the parents, who place the food under a crevice in the bark, in 

 full sight of the young, who must pick it out or go hungry. The 

 baby cocks his head wisely, looks at it, and proceeds to pull it out 

 and dine." 



Plumages. — The sequence of plumages and molts, from fledgling 

 to adult, in the red-shafted flicker is similar to that of the northern 

 flicker, but there is one marked difference in the color pattern in 

 the Juvenal plumage; whereas in auratus young birds of both sexes 

 have black malar i^atches, in cafer only the young male has the red 

 malar patches. Ridgway (1914) describes the juvenal male of the red- 

 shafted flicker as "similar to the adult male, but coloration duller, 

 gray of throat, etc., duller, more brownish, black jugular patch 

 smaller and less sharply defined, black spots on under parts less 

 sharply defined, less rounded, feathers of pileum indistinctly tipped 

 with paler, and red malar stripes less bright, less uniform, and black 

 terminal area on under side of tail not sharply defined." The young 

 female is similar to the young male, but the malar region is grayish 

 brown instead of red. The juvenal plumage is worn through sum- 

 mer, and a complete molt during fall produces a first-winter plumage 

 that is practically adult. Adults have a complete annual molt late 

 in summer and fall. 



A most interesting and unique case, among American birds at 

 least, of hybridizing on an extensive scale over a wide region occurs 

 between Colaptes auratus and Gola'ptes cafer. We found this most 

 beautifully illustrated in southwestern Saskatchewan, where pure- 

 blooded birds of both species were taken, together with quite a series 

 of hybrid birds showing all the intermediate grades of plumage. 

 Almost all the males showed some traces of the red malar stripes of 

 cafer., and nearly all showed some traces of the red nuchal crescent 

 of auratus- the other characters seemed to be less constant. I col- 

 lected a pure-blooded male auratus and a nearly pure-blooded cafer 



