A Glimpse of the Birds of Berkeley, 



widely parted, he is an anomaly in the 

 bird world. Sometimes he alights upon 

 the ground and grubs for food like a 

 meadow-lark, while again he hops in 

 true woodpecker fashion upon the tree 

 trunk, pecking holes in the bark. He 

 has the proud distinction of being the 

 only California bird which habitually 

 intermarries with an eastern representa- 

 tive of the genus — the golden-shafted 

 flicker of the Atlantic States and the 

 red-shafted flicker of the Pacific region 

 intermingling in a most bewildering 

 way, so that hybrids are almost as 

 numerous in some sections as the pure 

 species. 



The flicker is a large, showy bird, 

 somewhat greater than a robin in size, 

 with a conspicuous white rump-patch, 

 and with the shafts and inner webs of 

 the wings and tail colored a bright 

 scarlet. The male bird is also adorned 

 with a streak of the same color on 

 each side of the throat. The back is 

 brown, closely barred with black, and 



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