582 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



C. W. Plass, of Naj).! Citj', writes me tli.at this Woodpecker " makes liimself 

 too much at home with us to be af.'reeable. He drills larg(! holes though the 

 weather-boards of the house, and slielters himself at night between them and 

 the inner wall. He does not nest there, but simjily makes of such situations 

 his winter home. We have liad to shoot them, for we find it is of no use to 

 shut up one hole, as tliey will at once make another by its side." 



Mr. J. A. Allen mentions finding this species, in the .absence of suitable 

 trees on the Plains, making excavations in sand-banks. 



According to Mr. Ridgway, the iied-shafted Flicker does not diifer from 

 the Yellow-shafted species of the east in the slightest particular, as regards 

 habits, manners, and notes. It is, however, more shy than the eastern spe- 

 cies, probal)ly from the fact that it is pursued by the Indians, who prize its 

 cpiill and tail-feathers as ornaments with which to adorn their dress. 



Their eggs are hardly distinguishalile from those of tlie aumtus, but range 

 of a very slightly superior size. They average 1.12 inches in length by .89 

 of an inch in breadth. Their greatest length is 1.15 inches, their least 1.10, 

 and their breadth ranges from .87 to .90. 



Colaptes hybridus, Baird. 



HYBBIO FLICKER. 



Colaptes nijrmi, AuD. Birds Am. VII, 1843, 348, pi. ccccxciv. Colaptes hybridtis, 

 Baird, Hirtls N. Am. 1858, 122. Colaptcn mexicamis, Max. Cab. Jour. 1858, 422 

 (inixi'il witli mexicanus). Picics hybridiia auraio-niexicanus, Sundevall, Consp. Pie. 

 18GG, 721. 



Sp. Chak. Yellow shafts or foather.<! on wing and tail combined with red, erred spotted 

 cheek-patches. Orau^'e-red shafts combined with a well-defined nuchal red crescent, and 

 pinkish throat. Ash-colored throat combined with black cheek-patch or yellow shafts. 

 Shafts and feathers intermediate l)etwccn gambofre-yellow and dark orange-red. 



Had. Upper Missouri and Yellowstone ; Black Hills. 



The general distribution of Colaptca mcvicanus, as already indicated, is 

 from the l*acific coast of the United States, eastward to the Black Hills and 

 the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone ; that of the C. auratus from the At- 

 lantic Coast to about the eastern limits of mexicamis. But little variation 

 is seen in the two species up to the region mentioned ; slight difl'erences in 

 shade of color, size, and frequency of spots, etc., being all. '.\'here they 

 come together, however, or overlap, a most remarkable race is seen, in which 

 no two specimens, nay, scarcely the two sides of the same bird, are alike, 

 the characters of the two species becoming mixed up in the most extraor- 

 dinary manner. Thus, the shafts show every sliade from orange-red to pure 

 yellow ; yellow shafts combine with red cheek-patch (as in C. ai/irsii of Au- 

 duljon) ; a red nape, with orange-red shafts ; cheek-patches red with black 

 feathers intermixed, or vice versa ; perhaps the feathers red at base and black 



