1 62 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



seen hopping about the pasture or playing about the shade trees. The 

 economic value of the Flicker can not be disputed for an instant. The 

 number of ants destroyed daily by one of these birds is almost incredible 

 and we must not think merely of the injury which the ants would do 

 directly but of all the plant lice to whose welfare they minister. I have 

 taken as many as seventeen dozen ants from a flicker's stomach on many 

 occasions and of all the flickers' stomachs which I have examined, except 

 for a short period in the fall when wild berries were abundant, not one 

 was without a fair quota of ants. It is a common thing to see the flicker 

 on the ground in front of an ant hill or an ant hole, apparently motion- 

 less, but when he is carefully observed with the aid of a glass, one will 

 see that his tongue is darting out and in with lightninglike rapidity, each 

 time carrying into the -flicker's ravenous gullet one or more ants which 

 have adhered to its sticky surface. Although he is fond of wild fruits 

 in their season, especially blackberries, poke berries, sheep berries, blue- 

 berries and dogwood berries, I have never heard complaint of the Flicker 

 being destructive to cherries, currants or cultivated berries, and although 

 he is fond of wild grapes, I have never yet known of his doing any serious 

 damage to the vineyards in central and western New York. When these 

 facts are considered, it is evident that this bird is one of the best friends 

 which the horticulturist can encourage. 



The mating time of flickers is April and early May and they usually 

 begin to excavate their hole between the 2Oth of April and the I5th of 

 May. Fresh eggs, in this State, are found between May 5th and June 

 loth, although when the first set has been destroyed they will lay again 

 and again, so that they are frequently found nesting as late as the middle 

 of July. In fact, the Flicker is one of the most persistent layers we have 

 among the wild birds. Instances are on record in which the old bird has 

 laid six dozens of eggs in six dozen and three days. They usually excavate 

 a new nesting hole each season but occasionally utilize an old nest or even 

 natural cavity in a tree. The opening is about 2\ inches in diameter 

 and the hole from 10 to 24 inches in depth. It is enlarged to a spacious 



