NORTHWESTERN FLICKER 297 



D. E. Biwvn tells me that this bird "will nest anywhere where there 

 is room to dig out a cavity large enough for the nest. I have found 

 them in large stumj^s and in fenccposts and from 18 inches from tho 

 ground to 100 feet up. They will nest in birdboxes of suitable size and 

 will use them for winter homes. The eggs are from 5 to 10 in 

 munber and may be found May 1 to August. Both birds incubate 

 and, when incubation is advanced, sit very close ; sometimes they are 

 removed by hand." 



Harry S. Swarth (1911a) reports a nest, found at Portage Cove, 

 Revillagigedo Island, Alaska, that "was in a dead stub, some fifty 

 feet from the ground. The stump was so rotten that an attempt to 

 climb it brought down the whole upper portion, including the nest, 

 in a mass of disintegrated punk. * * * ^pj^g j^^g^ ^^.^^ ^^,,^g j^^ ^ 



valley bordering a stream, in fairly open country, with clumps of 

 scattered timber interspersed between the open meadows." 



Eggs. — The eggs of this race are indistinguishable from those of 

 the red-shafted flicker, except for a slight average difference in size. 

 The measurements of 47 eggs average 29.37 by 22.37 millimeters: 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 32.0 by 23.4, 30.0 by 

 24.3, and 26.4 by 20.8 millimeters. 



Food. — What has been said about the food of the red-shafted flicker, 

 and to a large extent that of the northern flicker, would apply equally 

 well to the northwestern. D. E. Brown says in his notes : "It puts in 

 most of its time feeding on the ground and becomes quite tame around 

 houses. I once placed some cornmeal on the back porch for some 

 small birds. A flicker lit on the porch and, approaching the meal, 

 laid its head sideways nearly on the floor and ran its long tongue 

 through the meal several times; it then turned its head over and re- 

 peated the operation from the other side, leaving a checkered effect 

 on the meal." 



Theed Pearse writes to me from Vancouver Island that he has seen 

 "a flicker picking up grains of rolled-oats off a flat surface by a side- 

 ways action of the beak." Flickers at his feeding station fed on 

 apples, but seemed to prefer suet or fat. 



S. F. Kathbun, of Seattle, has sent me the following interesting note : 

 "On one occasion in November I watched a northwestern flicker for 

 more than an hour feeding on a closely cut lawn in our yard. At 

 different times it had visited the spot, and I became somewhat curious 

 to know what the food represented that the bird found. This time as 

 soon as the woodpecker alighted it commenced tapping rapidly with 

 its beak the surface of the lawn, from time to time driving its bill into 

 the earth. Then when this was withdrawn oftener than not it held 

 an earthworm or some large grub, which at once was eaten and then 

 the tapping recommenced. On two occasions I could plainly see that 



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