FLICKER 343 



ticularly true on the floor of Yosemite Valley during the autumn months. 

 This omnivorous woodpecker then almost completely forsakes the timber 

 and forages in the brush patches, eating berries of various sorts, especially 

 cascara; it often seeks the open meadows where it gathers ants and grass- 

 hoppers. 



The birds flush one or two at a time, often not until the observer is 

 almost upon them ; then the sudden flapping of broad pinkish-red wings, 

 the view of the white rump patch fully displayed, leave no doubt in the 

 observer's mind as to the identity. A bird seldom flies far before alight- 

 ing, not against an upright tree trunk as with most other woodpeckers, 

 but perching on a branch, to bow deeplj^ this way and that and perhaps 

 utter its explosive cJaip. 



In a dead upright stub of a black oak near Stoneman Bridge, in 

 Yosemite Valley, a nest of the Red-shafted Flicker was seen on May 17, 

 1919. The male bird was foraging actively in the near vicinity and was 

 seen to return to the nest hole, his bill laden with insects for the young. 

 The nest hole was about 25 feet above the ground. 



At Coulterville on June 7, 1915, two members of our party engaged 

 in a search for bats in the attics of the larger buildings in town. In one 

 building a persistent series of fine, high-pitched notes was heard for some 

 time and believed to be made by bats, but when we actually located the 

 source it proved to be a brood of quite young Red-shafted Flickers in a 

 nest near the cornice of the building. The young were lodged on a cross- 

 piece in the wall, and an entrance hole, 2 inches or more in diameter, had 

 been cut in one of the boards of the outer wall. 



Poor- WILLS. Phalaenoptilus nuttalli (Audubon) ^^ 



Field characters. — Body size appears nearly that of robin, but tail shorter and legs 

 and feet much smaller; head broad; bill small; eyes large. Throat and band at end 

 of tail below, pure white; rest of plumage a variegated yet blended pattern of black, 

 gray and dark and light browns (pi. 43ft); feathers soft, owl-like. Flight, erratic and 

 silent, usually close over ground or brush; squats on ground when at rest. Voice: A 

 mellow yet far-carrying poor-will-o, repeated. Also a soft quirt, uttered mostly in flight. 



Occurrence. — Moderately common summer visitant both east and west of the high 

 Sierra Nevada.i" Life zone, Upper Sonoran on the western side, Transition on the 

 eastern. Eests on ground in shelter of chaparral during daj'time, foraging abroad at 

 dusk and during night. 



19 The Poor-wills at Snelling, Pleasant Valley, Smith Creek, and other west-slope 

 localities belong to a dark-colored subspecies known as P}uilaenoptHu.s nuttalli cali- 

 fornicii-s Eidgway, the Dusky Poor-will, which ranges through the central valleys and 

 southern coast region of California; while the birds at Walker Lake, Williams Butte, 

 Mono Lake Post Office and on Negit Island belong to a paler, and slightly larger, Great 

 Basin form called Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nuttalli (Audubon), the Nuttall Poor-will. 

 Individuals belonging to these two races cannot be disting\iishcd except in hand, but in 

 the Yosemite region neither race is known to invade the range of the other at any season. 

 They are separated by the high Sierras. 



