NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



277 



412. FLICKKR (From Brehm). 



The Golden-winged Woodpecker is found everywhere in woodlands, nesting in the 

 same manner as others of the family, most frequently in a dead trunk of a tree, at 

 considerable height from the ground. The excavations are generally made by the 

 birds, though not unfrequently the eggs are laid within a natural cavity. Curious 

 breeding-places are sometimes selected. It has been found nesting in an old wagon 

 hub far out on the treeless prairie; in barrels and in the crevices of deserted barns 

 and out-houses. Mr. Raymond C. Osburn found a nest of the Flicker on May 27, 

 1894, in Licking county, O., in the natural cavity of a gate-post, only three feet 

 from the ground. Ordinarily from six to eight or ten crystaline white eggs are de- 

 posited, but in exceptional cases this bird is known to lay a large number. Prof. 

 Evermann took thirty-seven eggs from a single nest between May 4 and June 22, 

 1885. In this period of time the bird restedvfourteen days. The most remarkable 

 instance of the laying capacity of the Flicker of which I am aware is that recorded 

 by Charles L. Phillips, of Taunton, Mass. On May 6, 1883, he found a cavity in a 

 large willow tree containing two eggs; he took one, leaving the other as a "nest-egg," 



