130 LIFE HISTOKIES OF S^OETH AMERICAJS BIRDS. 



of otlier iiioi-c or less local names, is nearly coextensive with its geographical 

 distribution. In the more northern portions of its range it is a regular migrant, 

 while it is usually a resident south of latitude 38°, and winters in considcralile 

 lunnbers farther north, stragglers remaining even in Maine and Mew Brunswick. 

 In the Southern States it is much more abundant in winter than in summer; still 

 a nunil)er of these birds breed in southern Florida, while it appears to be a 

 ratlier rare breeder in the immediate vicinity of the Gulf coast, in Louisiana 

 and eastern Texas. It is a very common bird in suitable localities throughout 

 the eastern United States and the more southern ])arts of the Dominion of 

 Canada, being generally found below altitudes of 4,000 feet, and few species 

 are more generally and better known than the Flicker. Its breeding range also 

 is more extensive than that of any other member of this family found on the 

 North American continent, ranging from about latitude 28° in Florida to Fort 

 Anderson, British Nortli America, in latitude 68° 35' N., and probably still 

 farther nortli. Here Mr. R. MacFarlane reports it as "l)y no means scarce in 

 the valley of the Anderson; but, as its eggs were not in demand, very few 

 indeed were gathered for transmission to Washington, I). C." ^ 



It probably breeds throughout Alaska; both Messrs. J. Lockhart and Robert 

 Kennicott forwarded skins and eggs from Fort Yukon, which are now in the 

 United States National Museum collection, and it has been taken within a few 

 miles of the coast in Bering Strait. One of the most western breeding records 

 known to me is that furnished by Mr. R. MacFarlane, from Fort St. James, Stew- 

 art's Lake, British Columbia, who found the Flicker not uncommon there, both 

 skins and eggs, taken in the summer of 1890, having been forwarded b}- him 

 to the United States National Museum. In Labrador it is rare, and 1 doubt 

 if it bi'eeds there to any extent, excepting perha])s in the extreme southern 

 portions. Along the western borders of its range in the United States it inter- 

 grades with Colaptes cafer, and quite an extensive transition zone exists here, 

 including western Texas, the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, and 

 adjacent ranges, in which typical specimens of both species are found, as well 

 as many intermediates wdiich show the chief characteristics of one or the otlier 

 species more or less distinctly. The same conditions exist to a somewhat less 

 degree on the Pacific Coast, in California, Oregon, Washington, and British 

 Columbia, where Colaptes auratus from Alaska intergrades with Colaptes cafer 

 from the interior, and probably also with the darker northwest coast form, knowai 

 as Colaptes cafer sati(ratior. For more detailed information on this subject I 

 refer the reader to Dr. J. A. Allen's interesting paper." 



The Flicker is one of the most sociable of our Woodpeckers, iiud is 

 apparently always on good terms with its neiglil)ors. lairds which migrate 

 usually return to their summer homes early in April, and- occasionally even 

 in March, and one will not have far to go then without hearing some of its 



' Proceedings U. S. Natioual Museum, 1891, vol. 14, p. 438. 



-The North American Species of the Genua Colaptes, considered with siiecial reference to the rela- 

 tionsliips of Colnplis tiiiritliiK and Colaptes cafer, published hy the American Museum of Natural History, 

 Bulletin, Vol. IV, 18UL', pp. 21-44. 



