138 The Wilson Bulletin— No. 113 



the number of eggs that are laid by a pair in a season if 

 continually robbed is much smaller than more northern 

 breeding Flickers have been known to deposit. In 1015 1 

 secured some data concerning this habit. On May 6, 1 

 found a nest in a dead pine at a height of ten feet, con- 

 taining six fresh eggs, which I took. On May 30 it con- 

 tained five eggs which I also collected, and a third set, con- 

 sisting of five, was completed on June 20. At this point, 

 •however, the birds deserted the nesting hole and excavated 

 a new one nearby which was inaccessible. The hole from 

 which tliese eggs were taken was deepened before each new 

 set was deposited. Upon^ collecting the second set an in- 

 creased depth of 214 inches was noted, while the birds re- 

 moved an inch and a half of wood before depositing the 

 third set. After this last excavation the hole measured 

 twenty-two inches in depth. On April 29, 191G, I found a 

 nest containing five slightly incubated eggs. This is my 

 earliest breeding record. The hole was eight feet high in an 

 oak stump. I have found nests as low as five feet, but this 

 species usually excavates far up and in dead trees on the 

 verge of collapse. According to my observations the Flick- 

 er breeds very irregularly. I have noted incubated eggs 

 on April 29, and have seen birds excavating, late in May, 

 what I considered their first hole of the season. 



In approaching an occupied nest, if it is close to the 

 ground, the sitting bird always leaves the hole before the 

 observer arrives closer tlian fifty or seventy-five feet from 

 the nesting tree. If the hole is high up, however, the bird 

 remains in it, often not leaving until the trunk of the tree 

 is rapped upon several times. 



This species secures much of its food upon the ground. 

 In crossing any tract of cut-over land upon which has been 

 left numerous limbs and rotten trunks it is not unusual to 

 note a number of Flickers feeding among the brushwood, 

 industriouslj^ chiseling out large chunks of rotten wood in 

 their search for insects. When disturbed they generally 

 fly quite a distance off and alight high up on some tree. 



