WOODPECKERS 221 



Nest. Usually 10 to 20 feet from the ground in stubs or trees. Eggs : 

 usually 5 to 9, white. 



Food. Largely ants; also beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, and 

 caterpillars, weed seeds and berries. 



The flickers of whatever local name or race are striking, forceful 

 birds. Their clear ringing clape and piute command attention, while 

 their rapidly uttered if-if-if-if-if-if-if is no less stirring. As they fly 

 in undulating line over a field there is a splendid flash of red or 

 golden from under their wings. At work or play they show the 

 same vigor arid whole-souled absorption, and their courtship is 

 accordingly both ardent and amusing. 



As a genus the flickers are the least woodpecker-like of the fam- 

 ily. Instead of getting their food from the tree trunks or in the air, 

 they live largely on ants which they get from the ground, which 

 accounts for the brown of their backs, the slenderness of their bills, 

 and the character of their tongues. As they probe ant-hills to get 

 the ants their tongues are very long and provided with large sali- 

 vary glands whose sticky secretions hold the ants. As they do not 

 spear their food the tongue is freer from barbs than that of most 

 other woodpeckers. 



413. Colaptes cafer collaris Vigors. RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 



Adult male. Ground color of head and body brownish, back barred 

 and under parts spotted with black ; rump white and tail black ; no nu- 

 chal band ; mustache red ; chest marked with black crescent ; under side of 

 wings and tail red. Female : Similar, but usually with a buffy or brown 

 malar stripe. Young : similar, but without mustache. Length : 12.75- 

 14.00, wing 6.45-7.15, tail 4.40-5.20, exposed culmen 1.34-1.53. 



Remarks. Birds with varying combinations of the characters of C. col- 

 laris and C. luteus may be met with anywhere from the eastern border of 

 the plains to the Pacific. 



Distribution. Rocky Mountain region from British Columbia south to 

 northern border of Mexico ; west to the coast ranges in Oregon and 

 Washington, and to the Pacific coast from northern California southward 

 to Lower California. 



Nest. From 2 to 70 feet from the ground in rotten stubs or trees, 

 also in holes in banks, in sides of houses, and gate posts. Eggs : 5 to 10, 

 white. 



Food. Insects and larvae, especially ants, grasshoppers, and crickets, 

 acorns, seeds, and wild berries. 



41 3a. Colaptes cafer saturatior (Ridgw.). NORTHWESTERN 

 FLICKER. 



Similar to collaris, but darker. Wing : 6.35-7.00, tail 4.70-5.20, ex- 

 posed culmen 1.35-1.60. 



Distribution. Breeds in humid Transition and Canadian zones of the 

 northwest coast from Sitka to northern California. 



Nest, eggs, and food same as in collaris. 



