130 PICI: Woodpeckers 



MEARNS GILDED FLICKER 



(414b. Colaptes chrysoides mearnsi) 11^ in. 



Lining of tail and wings yellow; breast thickly covered with 

 large, round black spots; crown cinnamon; no red on nape. 

 Except for the yellow this bird might easily be mistaken for a 

 Red-shafted Flicker out of its normal habitat. Locality alone 

 affords almost certain identification of the species. 



Said to feed extensively on seeds of the giant cactus. 



RED-SHAFTED FLICKER 



(413. Colaptes cafer collaris) 13 in. 



Upper parts brown, barred with broken, narrow black lines; 

 below, gray, with red "moustaches," a black crescent on chest, 

 and breast with round spots of black; quills and inner sides of 

 webs red. Rump white, conspicuous in flight. 



Female lacks the red moustaches. 



Call-note, "hip, hip, hip." Greeting notes, a rollicking 

 "wickety, wickety. " 



Feeds chiefly on the ground. A big destroyer of ants. 



BOREAL FLICKER 



(412b. Colaptes auratus borealis) 13 in. 



Generally resembles the Red-shafted, but quills and inside of 

 webs yellow instead of red; moustaches black; a red nape-band. 

 Female lacks the moustaches. 



A northern form of the eastern Flicker, the males easily 

 identified by the black malar stripes, or moustaches (red in 

 the Red-shafted species). Hybrids between the two types of 

 Flickers are common and show some surprising mixtures of 

 color. 



