Breeding Birds op Chatham County, Ga. 137 



they remain mated for life, since they are observed through- 

 out the year most frequently in pairs. 



During the past four years I have been unable to lo- 

 cate a single nest of this species, so uncommon has it be- 

 come. The last nest noted by me was on June 6, 1916, con- 

 taining two incubated eggs. It was placed among the 

 terminal twigs of a horizontal limb of a large pine, at a 

 height of seven and a half feet. It used to be a common 

 and familiar bird in the rural settlements, nesting in the^ 

 shade trees and shrubbery about farm houses. Its rather 

 mournful note could be heard throughout the breeding 

 season, and many pairs could be seen fearlessly walking in 

 the roadways and narrow paths, never flying and seldom 

 even more than moving to one side as a person passed by. 

 This species is non-migratory, passing its entire life in or 

 very near the locality at which it was hatched. So at- 

 tached to certain localities does it become that even if the 

 undergrowth is cleared and the land cultivated the bird 

 remains, nesting on the ground among the vegetables. 



Colaptes auratus auratus. Flicker. Wherever there 

 are areas of cut-over lands on which remain an abundance 

 of dead trees this species will be found in large numbers. 

 At all seasons it exhibits a preference for open pine bar- 

 rens, but, particularly during the breeding season, is oc- 

 casionally met with about the edges of swamps if they con- 

 tain suitable nesting sites. It is abundant on all of the 

 wooded islands, particularly Ossabaw island, where I ob- 

 served it in large numbers in May, 1915. Here it is often- 

 est seen in the woods close to the salt marsh or adjoining 

 the beach, apparently not frequenting in any numbers the 

 more heavily forested interior of the island. It prefers 

 tall dead palmetto trees in which to breed and all along 

 the margin of the island can be seen numerous holes which 

 this woodpecker had excavated. 



The tendency — too well known to receive more than 

 passing notice here — of this species to continue laying 

 -eggs if they are taken has been often noted by me, although 



