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 anta. 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 ramp 
patch and his wings, which show yellow in flight. His 
notes are equally characteristic. The most common is a 
loud, vigorous kée-yer, apparently a signal or salute. In 
the spring, and occasionally in the fall, he utters a pleas- 
ing, rather dreamy cith-ctth-ctth-ctth, many times repeated. 
When two or more birds are together, and in my ex- 
perience only then, they address each other with a 
singular wedchew, wedchew, wedchew, 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 end scraping 
than one often sees outside of Spain. 
NIGHTHAWKS AND WHIP-POOR-WILLS. 
(FaMILY CAPRIMULGID 2.) 
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 toa 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 
