64 THE FLICKER. 



the so-called sportsman, but I am happy to say not nearly as 

 frequently as formerly, in this section at least. 



Of course the Flicker occasionally tastes of the cultivated 

 fruits and grains, such as the blackberry, cherry and mul- 

 berry, and corn in the milk ; but so seldom as to call forth no 

 complaint. In Illinois he is far less destructive in this respect 

 than his red-headed relative (Gault). The only serious dam- 

 age reported comes from Farboro, N. C, where he is quite de- 

 structive to the peanut crop while the nut is maturing, congre- 

 gating in great numbers in the fields and playing havoc, often 

 making half a dozen holes near a vine probing for the soft 

 kernel. During the month of August, however, it resorts in 

 great numbers to corn fields in quest of corn worms (Foxhall). 

 Maynard says it is verj' fond of over-ripe pears and apples. 

 In the North, as the .season wanes, the trees, shrubs, bushes 

 and vines become stripped of their fruit, f6r the Flicker is not 

 the only bird foraging, and the bulk retire southward, leaving 

 the hardy winter resident, u.sually an old male, to adapt it.self 

 to the existing conditions, be what the}' may, and becomes 

 everything but carnivorous (Bowles). Almost omnivorous, its 

 maw receives the dried or frozen remnants of the wild fruits 

 already named ; also the berries of the red cedar, hawthorn, 

 mountain ash and woodbine ; the seeds of the sumac, poison 

 ivory, clover, grass, and various weeds ; as well as acorns, 

 beechnuts, corn from shocks, and oats, wheat and rye from 

 stacks ; while ants, beetles and larvae are sought from bark 

 • and wood of decayed trees and stumps or gleaned from the 

 bare ground or creek banks. During the winter of '87-' 88 a 

 single male took up his quarters in a corn crib near Grinnell, 

 Iowa, and waxed fat on the corn and oats in the bins, but suc- 

 cumbed to a temperature of 20° below zero on the 14th of Jan- 

 uary (Jones). In Michigan its winter food seems to consist 

 mostly of corn, for where there is a field of corn standing only 

 there the Flicker is found. It also resorts to corn cribs, and 

 probably a few beechnuts and acorns, as well as such insects as 

 can be had are eaten (Purdy). Apparently the Flicker per- 

 forms the same service in Michigan as the Crow does in east- 

 ern Pennsylvania for the slothful farmer, but doubtless less 

 thoroughly. Further south it fares better during the colder 

 season. Near Raleigh, N. C, it feeds upon the waste peanuts 



