THE NORTHERN FLICKER. 357 



shivering midwinter lunch, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, till then silent, bestirs 

 himself and begins to pout, "chow chow-chow." Careful attention discovers 

 the pouting hermit taking his brief nooning in the middle heights of a twinned 

 tree trunk, or else darkly silhouetted against the wintry sky. Here he hitches 

 and grumbles by turns, and is ready for bed again long before the diner-out 

 has brushed the crumbs from his chilly board. 



To me there is something uncanny about this ascetic bird, who whiles 

 away his winter hour in the seclusion of a narrow cell ; and in spring, scarcely 

 less unsocial, retires to the least frequented depths of the forest to breed. Far 

 from the haunts of men, and secure in the protection of abundant leafage, the 

 birds do unbend somewhat from that austere dignity, and probably have pretty 

 gay times among themselves. At this season they have a chirruping cry, 

 which only the experts can distinguish from the noisiest of the Red-head's 

 notes ; and another, a very startling expression of mingled incredulity and re- 

 proach, "Clark." This is evidently analogous to the Red-head's Queer, but is 

 rendered with quite the style of the English "Walker!" 



The bird is nearly a vegetarian, as becomes an anchorite, and lays up 

 frugal stores of mast and corn. The nesting is not different from that of 

 other Woodpeckers, except that the birds are less frequently found in exposed 

 situations, and there are very few sets of eggs from Ohio in collections. 



No. 157. 



NORTHERN FLICKER. 



A. O. U. No. 412 a. Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs. 



Synonyms. FLICKER; YELLOW-SHAFTED FLICKER; GOLDEN-WINGED WOOD- 

 PECKER; YELLOW-HAMMER; HIGH-HOLE; HIGH-HOLDER; PIGEON WOODPECKER; 

 WAKE-UP. (These are the leading types. Mr. Frank L. Burns in his excellent 

 monograph 1 lists one hundred and twenty-six designations of this bird). 



Description. Adult male : Top of head and cervix ashy gray, with a vina- 

 ceous tinge on forehead ; a bright scarlet band on the back of the neck ; back, scapu- 

 lars, and wings vinaceous gray with conspicuous black bars, brace-shaped, cres- 

 centic or various ; primaries plain dusky on exposed webs ; lining of the wing and 

 shafts of the wing-quills yellow ; rump broadly white ; upper tail-coverts white, 

 black-barred in broad, "herring-bone" pattern ; tail double-pointed, black, and 

 with black shafts on exposed upper surface; feathers sharply acuminate; tail 

 below, golden-yellow and with yellow shafts, save on black tips; chin, sides of 

 head, and throat vinaceous, enclosing two broad, black, malar stripes, or mous- 

 taches ; a broad, black, pectoral crescent ; remaining under parts white with heavy 

 vinaceous shading on breast and sides, everywhere marked with sharply defined 

 and handsome round, or cordate, spots of black. Bill and feet dark plumbeous. 

 Adult female : Similar, but without black moustache. Sexes about equal in size. 



1 The Wilson Bulletin, No. 31. A Monograph of the Flicker (Colnptes auratus). By Frank L. Burns. 

 Oberlin, Ohio, April, 1900. 



