250 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



stiffened tail feathers serve as a prop when the bird is nest- 

 ing. The eggs of woodpeckers are uniformly white, and this 

 is true of all birds that nest in holes. The reason for this is 

 that they are safe without protective colors. 



The bill of the adult male flicker is brownish, long, well 

 shaped and slightly curved ; iris of the eye, dark ; nape, scarlet 

 and erectile. Chin and throat, lilac brown with black stripe on 

 each side of the throat; wings well shaped, pointed, barred 

 with black, and golden yellow below, hence, its name golden- 

 winged woodpecker; body above, light olivaceous brown with 

 a light green tinge, each feather having a crescentic band of 

 black near the end ; rump and upper tail coverts white with 

 black bars running across the coverts ; in flight the white is 

 very conspicuous ; tail, brownish above, yellow below, tips 

 black, slightly curved and very stiff, and it is used as a fulcrum 

 when the bird is at work on the bole of a tree ; breast bordered 

 with a large black crescent ; rest of under parts vinaceous, with 

 black spots ; tarsus, short ; toes, in pairs, two before and two 

 behind, long, heavily scaled and bluish-ash ; the adult female 

 in appearance, is like that of the male, except the -black 

 streak on the throat is wanting. No other bird has more names 

 than the flicker. It would subserve no good purpose to give 

 them here and try to account for their origin. 



The range of the flicker extends from Florida and the 

 Gulf coast north through the eastern United States and the 

 maritime provinces of Canada to New Foundland and southern 

 Labrador, and the shores of Hudson Bay, to about latitude 58 

 degrees ; thence in a northwesterly direction to Alaska to about 

 latitude 68 degrees ; and west to Assiniboia, North Dakota, Ne- 

 braska and the eastern half of Texas. It winters southward 

 from Indiana and Pennsylvania. Those that migrate come 

 north in March and return south in October and the early 

 part of November. They breed throughout their range. In 

 the Middle West they mate about the middle of March and 

 nidification begins about a fortnight later. In his courtship the 

 male is an ardent wooer. Occasionally two males make love 

 to the same female with their "flick-ah, flick-ah." I have often 

 witnessed this. This is done good naturedly. No fighting nor 

 duels are engaged in. As Major Bendire says, "It is an exceed- 



