448 THE RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 
Taken in Oregon. Photo by A. W. Anthony. 
NEST AND EGGS OF RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 
ous birds had re- 
moved, not after 
the familiar pick 
and kick fashion 
of most bank 
delving species, 
but by the beak- 
ful, as Wood- 
peckers should. 
From six to ten 
highly polished, 
semi-transparent, 
white eggs are 
laid upon the rot- 
ten wood or 
chips, which usu- 
ally line a nest; 
and = incubation 
begins customa- 
rily when the last 
egg is laid. Ben- 
dire notes an in- 
stance, in the 
Blue Mountains 
of Oregon, of a 
Flicker’s nest 
which contained 
at one time three 
young birds just 
hatched, two 
pipped eggs, and 
five perfectly 
fresh eggs, of 
which one was a 
runt. 
The female is a close sitter and instances are on record where pebbles 
dropped in upon her have failed to dislodge her, or where once being lifted off 
she brushed passed the disturber to re-enter the nest. Altho provided with a bill 
which might prove a formidable weapon, the Flicker is of too gentle a nature 
to wield it in combat, and seldom offers any resistance whatever to the intruder. 
After fourteen days young birds are hatched, blind, ugly, helpless. In a 
few days more, however, they are able to cling to the sides of the nesting 
