44 8 



THE 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 w o d 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 

 h a tche d, two 

 pipped eggs, and 

 five p e r f e c 1 1 y 

 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 



Taken in Oregon. Photo by A. W . Anthony. 



NEST AND EGGS OF RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 



