CHAPTER XLV. 



October 30 November 5. 



THE FLICKER. 



Order Pici Family Picidae 



Genus Colaptes Species Colaptes auratus 



Length 12.00 to 12.75 > wings, 5.50 to 6.60; tail, 4.00 to 4.95. 

 Migration North, March ; south, November. 



"Whistles highhole out of the grove 



His summoning loud and clear: 

 'Chilly it may be down your way, 



But the high south field has cheer. 

 On the sunward side of the chestnut stump 



The wood-grubs wake and appear. 

 Come out to your plowing come up to your plowing 



The time for plowing is here.' " 



The family Picidae, composed of the woodpeckers, has in 

 it about three hundred and fifty species. These are found in 

 the forests in all parts of the world except Australia and Mada- 

 gascar. About twenty-five of them are found in North America. 

 These birds have stout, straight, chisel-pointed bills, with 

 which they are enabled to cut small holes in the wood for the 

 purpose of securing insects, and large holes for nesting places. 

 The tongue, as we shall see, is peculiarly long, has a spear-like 

 tip, and is so arranged that it can be thrust out to a wonderful 

 distance. The peculiar structure of the foot, with its two toes 

 directed forward and two backward (except in one genus), as- 

 sists them in clinging to an upright surface, while the pointed, 



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