SONGLESS BIRDS OF ORCHARD AND WOODLAND. 261 



This bird often beats a long roll on a resonant branch. 

 When flying away it is easily identified by the showy white 

 patch on the rump, and when it flies overhead its golden 

 wings and tail are plainly shown. 



It is rather a shy bird, and it has reason to be, for, in 

 spite of the law protecting it, the Flicker is hunted in most 

 parts of its range. It is not a typical Woodpecker. Its 

 bill is slightly curved, 

 and its tongue has fewer 

 terminal barbs than any 

 other North American 

 species. But the tongue 

 is one of the longest, it 

 is studded on the upper 

 surface with fine points 

 directed backward, and 

 the salivary glands are 

 large ; in fact, this bird 

 is more of an ant-eater 

 than a Woodpecker. It 

 frequents fields, or- 

 chards, and open spaces in the woods, where it strikes its 

 long bill into anthills, and then thrusts out its still longer 

 tongue, coated with sticky saliva, and licks up the out- 

 rushing ants by the dozen. Ants constitute about forty-five 

 per cent, of its food. Though useful in some Avays, ants are 

 often great pests. Many kinds are decidedly harmful, as 

 they attend, protect, and help to spread many aphids that 

 are known as plant, root, or bark lice, which are among 

 the greatest enemies of certain garden plants, shrubs, and 

 trees. Ants infest houses, destroy timber, and have other 

 harmful habits. They are eaten by many birds, of which 

 the Flicker heads the list. It also takes beetles, grasshop- 

 pers, crickets, caterpillars, and other harmful insects. It is 

 fond of wild cherries and wild berries, but takes very little 

 cultivated fruit. Grass seed and weed seed are eaten to 

 some extent. Occasionally it has been known to eat a little 

 corn on the ear. Its most harmful habit is exhibited in 

 southeastern Massachusetts, where, especially on Cape Cod, 



Fig. 118. — Flicker, male, about one-half natural 



size. 



