120 The Wilson Bulletin— No. 109 



Red-headed Woodpecker (Melancrpes crthrocephahis) . 



There is a specimen in the Smith collection. This species is 

 a common summer resid-ent, frequently using telephone poles to 

 nest in. My first seen dates vary from April 22 in 1913 to Mav 

 15 in 1910. They depart early in the fall; September 7 and 11 

 being two of my last seen dates. I knew of one second brood be- 

 ing reared in which the young did not fly until about September 

 15. The parent birds departed only a few days after the young 

 left the nest, while the latter remained in the vicinity until about 

 October 15. The red-heads are not peaceable neighbors with the 

 flickers and sometimes drive the latter away. 



Northern Flicker iColaptes auratus lutcus). 



The flicker is an abundant migrant, a common summer resi- 

 dent, and a rare winter resident in Sac county. I have known of 

 a single individual wintering in the years 1910, 1911, 1912. and 

 1914. For many years flickers nested between the walls of a 

 double-walled building stuffed with flax straw. I have had both 

 flickers and red-heads nest in bird boxes which had ground cork 

 in the bottom for a nesting material. Flickers can frequently be 

 found over a mile from any trees, apparently feeding upon ground 

 insects in pastures and stubble fields. 



Red-shafted Flicker {Cokiptes cafer collaris). 

 One reported by Mrs. E. B. Hayden. 



Whip-poor-will (Antrostoniiis vociferus vociferus). 



I have found this species very rare at Wall Lake, having iden- 

 tified only one individual. May 14, 1910. Mr. C. Orville Lee re- 

 ported it as formerly common and nesting near Sac City. 



Nighthawk (CJwrdcilcs virginanus virginianus) . 



Specimen in the Smith collection. The nighthawk is a com- 

 mon migrant at Wall Lake, but I have never known it to nest in 

 this vicinity. Mr. Lee states that it is a common nesting species 

 in the vicinity of Sac City. I have found it common in early July 

 along the Raccoon river east of Lake View. My first seen dates 

 range from May 19 to May 30. 



Seimett's Nighthawk (Chordeiles virginianus scnnetti). 



My only record is that of a female which I found sitting on 

 a clod in a plowed field I was preparing for alfalfa seeding on Au- 

 gust 12, 1909. It was a very pale silvery color, so much so that 

 it was very conspicuous against the black dirt, in marked con- 

 trast to the ordinary nighthawk, which can hardly be seen in a 

 similar situation. Although I flushed it repeatedly, it always 

 perched upon the ground again. It allowed me to approach as 

 close as eight feet and the horses still closer. 



