Order ticirorrnes 



Woodpeckers: Family Picidae 



Northern Flicker: 



Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs 



DESCRIPTION.- "Adult male: Upper parts brown, barred with black, except for red 

 nuchal band, white rump, and black tail; wings and tail with shafts and under side of 

 feathers bright yellow; throat and sides of head pinkish brown, with black malar stripe 

 or 'mustache' and black crescent on chest; rest of under parts brownish white, 

 washed with yellow and spotted with black. Adult female: similar, but without 

 black mustache, though sometimes with faint indications of one. Young male: 

 similar to adult male, but crown marked with dull red, nuchal band dull scarlet. 

 Young female: with dark mustache. Male: Length I2.-I4, wing 6.18, tail 4.09, 

 exposed culmen 1.33. Female: wing 6.06, tail 4, exposed culmen i.Z5." (Bailey) 

 Nest: In old stumps or trees, usually not far from ground. Eggs: 5 to 9, white. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: Breeds from Canada and Alaska east of Rocky Mountains 

 from tree limit south to edge of Lower Austral Zone and in winter south to Gulf. 

 In Oregon: Rare straggler that has occurred twice. 



THERE ARE TWO records of the Northern Flicker in Oregon, both strag- 

 glers. The first is of a bird taken by Walker (19x4) at Blaine, Tillamook 

 County, on November 3, 192.1; the second is of a bird taken in Portland, 

 February 2.3, 1932. (Jewett Coll. No. 7175). 



Although typical C. a. luteus seems to be a rarity in Oregon, hybrids 

 between it and C. cafer collaris are common, particularly on the coast. 

 Overton Do well, Jr., at Mercer, and Walker, in Tillamook County, took 

 numerous specimens; we have three from Portland (Jewett Coll. No. 

 3380; Gabrielson Coll. Nos. 1897 and 1898); and there is a single bird 

 from Adel, Lake County (Gabrielson Coll. No. 332.)- These birds exhibit 

 curious combinations of the mustaches and crown markings of the two 

 forms, often complicated further by association of dominant head mark- 

 ings of one species with the color of wing linings and tail feathers of the 

 other. Such a series is an interesting study in possible character com- 

 binations but would be out of place in this book. It is evident, however, 

 that the wintering flickers of northwestern Oregon originate somewhere 

 in Canada along the line where these two forms meet. In addition to the 

 specimens of these hybrid birds that we have examined, Bendire (1877) 

 reported one from Camp Harney in 1875, an< ^ Woodcock (1901) listed 

 two from Corvallis. 



