BIRDS OF THE CAMBRIDGE REGION. 21 7 



112. Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs. 

 Northern Flicker. Flicker. Golden-winged Woodpecker. Yellow-hammer. 



Permanent resident, common at all seasons but least so in winter. 



NESTING DATES. 



May 10 — 25. 



Flickers winter with us regularly and so commonly that as many as five or 

 six may be seen in the suburbs of Cambridge, or in the farming country a little 

 further to the westward, during a morning walk in December, January or Feb- 

 ruary. They are still more numerous — and very much more conspicuous — at 

 their seasons of migration, especially in late March and early April when the 

 birds which have passed the winter further south herald their return by loud 

 and persistent ' shouting.' This sound, one of the most characteristic and wel- 

 come of all early spring voices, is heard not less frequently and generally through- 

 out the Cambridge Region today than it was thirty or forty years ago ; for the 

 Flicker, although by nature wary and suspicious, is too intelligent and adaptable, 

 and above all too persistent, to easily relinquish haunts to which it has become 

 attached, simply because their character has changed. No doubt it has learned 

 by observation that thickly settled localities do not harbor many of its natural 

 enemies ; that man is often least to be feared where he is most numerously repre- 

 sented ; and that wherever native trees and shrubs are removed they are usually 

 replaced by cultivated ones which produce equally abundant and attractive fruit. 

 When the Parkman's apple tree in our garden bears heavily, Flickers visit it 

 almost daily through the winter to feast on its tiny apples — scarce larger than 

 blueberries. At this season they also eat the fruit of our hackberry trees, and in 

 summer they never fail to appear when the cherries and mulberries ripen. 

 They are especially fond of rum cherries, of which we have always an abundance 

 for them, and for the Robins, in September. The Flickers have repeatedly 

 nested in this garden, even during recent years. In 1899 a pair took possession 

 of an imitation stub which I made and put up for them. It was simply a long, 

 narrow box covered with bark and having an entrance hole of suitable size bored 

 in one side near the upper end. Eight eggs were laid, but unfortunately none 

 of them hatched although the birds brooded them faithfully for nearly six weeks. 

 The box has since sheltered gray squirrels, House Sparrows and, on one occasion, 

 a Screech Owl, but the Flickers have never returned to it. 



