GOATSUCKERS. 117 



rises, the probabilities are that we shall find there a much- 

 disturbed community of ants. 



Professor Beal has shown that nearly one half of the 

 Flicker's food consists of ants. He further tells us that 

 as ants aid in the increase of the plant lice so injurious 

 to vegetation, the birds which feed on ants are therefore 

 the friends of the agriculturist. 



The Flicker's most prominent marks, as with a low 

 chuckle he bounds up before you, are his white rump 

 patch and his wings, which show yellow in flight. His 

 notes are equally characteristic. The most common is a 

 loud, vigorous kee-yer, apparently a signal or salute. In 

 the spring, and occasionally in the fall, he utters a pleas- 

 ing, rather dreamy cuh-cuh-cuh-cuh, many times repeated. 

 When two or more birds are together, and in my ex- 

 perience only then, they address each other with a 

 singular weechew, weechew, weechew, a sound which can 

 be imitated by the swishing of a willow wand. Much 

 ceremony evidently prevails in the Flicker family, and 

 on these occasions there is more bowing and scraping 

 than one often sees outside of Spain. 



GOATSUCKERS, SWIFTS, AND HUMMINGBIRDS. 

 (ORDER MACROCHIRES.) 



NlGHTHAWKS AND WHIP-POOR-WILLS. 

 (FAMILY CAPRIMULGID^E.) 



IN this family the mouth of birds reaches its greatest 

 development, while the bill proper is correspondingly 

 small, bearing much the same relation to the mouth that 

 a clasp does to a purse. These birds feed at night upon 

 insects which they catch on the wing, and their enormous 

 gape is obviously of great assistance in this mode of feed- 

 ing. Often the sides of the mouth are beset with long 



