THE YELLOW-SHAFTED FLICKER. Tye 
No. 177. 
YELLOW-SHAFTED FLICKER. 
A. O. U. No. 412a. Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs. 
Synonyms.—F Licker: NorTHeRN Fricker. GoLDEN-wINGED Woop- 
PECKER. YELLOW-HAMMER. HicH-HoLE. HiGH-HOLDER. PIGEON WoODPECKER. 
WAKE-UP. 
Description.—A dult male: ‘Top of head and cervix ashy gray, with a vina- 
ceous tinge on forehead ; a bright scarlet band on the back of the neck; back, scapu- 
lars, and wings vinaceous gray with conspicuous black bars, brace-shaped, cres- 
centic or various; primaries plain dusky on exposed webs; lining of the wing and 
shafts of the wing-quills yellow; rump broadly white; upper tail-coverts white, 
black-barred in broad, “herring-bone” pattern; tail double-pointed, black, and 
with black shafts on exposed upper surface; feathers sharply acuminate; tail 
below, golden-yellow and with yellow shafts, save on black tips; chin, sides of 
head, and throat vinaceous, enclosing two broad, black, malar stripes, or mous- 
taches ; a broad, black, pectoral crescent; remaining underparts white with heavy 
vinaceous shading on breast and sides, everywhere marked with sharply defined 
and handsome round, or cordate, spots of black. Bill and feet dark plumbeous. 
Adult female: Similar, but without black moustache. Sexes about equal in size. 
Length 12.00-12.75 (304.8-323.9) ; av. of thirteen-specimens: wing 6.13 (155.7) ; 
tail 4.34 (110.2) ; bill 1.34 (34). 
Recognition Marks.—Size not comparable to that of any better known bird; 
scarlet nuchal band; yellow “‘flickerings” in flight ; pectoral crescent; white rump; 
black-spotted breast, etc. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest: an excavation in a tree or 
stump, usually made by the bird, at moderate heights; unlined, save by chips. 
Eggs: 4-10, usually 7 or 8, glossy white. Av. size, 1.09 x .85 (27.7 x 21.6). 
General Range.—Northern and eastern North America, west to the eastern 
slope of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. Occasional on the Pacific slope from 
California northward. Accidental in Europe. 
Range in Washington.— Casual during migrations—a straggler from Alaska. 
Authorities——Dawson, Auk, Vol. XXV., Oct. 1908, p. 484. 
Specimens.—Prov. E. 
THE true Yellow-shafted Ficker, the familiar bird of the Eastern States, 
is occasionally taken as a straggler during the fall migrations. Mr. D. E. 
Brown took a typical specimen at Glacier, in 1904, and Mr. Victor Savings, of 
Blaine, has shot one and seen several others. A specimen in Mr. Rathbun’s 
collection was taken by Mr. Matt. H. Gormley, on Orcas Island, October 15, 
1903. ‘The bird is a male and is typical save for the faintest possible tinge 
of salmon in the yellow, which marks him as a border-line specimen, probably 
a British Columbian bird which did not deflect eastward sufficiently in the 
autumn retreat. 
