WOODPECKERS. 



235 



This is a common bird in our Soutlioni States. It inhabits alike 

 coniferous and deciduous growths, but prefers the latter. It ascends 

 a tree in a curious, jerky fashion, accompanying each upward move 

 by a hoarse chuk-chuh. 



41S. Colaptes auratus [Linn.). Flkkkh; IIion-iioLK; Ci.ArF.: 

 Yki.i.ow-uam.mkk; Cioi.i)EN-\vi\(.i;i) Wijokpeckku. Ail. <J .— Td^ of the lutul 

 ashy gray, a bright scarlet hauJ iicniss tlie Ijiick of the neck ; Imek, wiut;- 

 ooverts, iiiiil expo-setl jiiirt of seeoiuhwies brownish f.'niy, barreil witli bhu'k ; 

 ruiiii) wliite ; primaries black externally, the inner Mn-t'uce of the wintf and 

 the shafts of the feathers yellow ; upper tail-coverts barreil '>r streaked with 

 hla<'k and white; tail black above, yellow tijiped with black below, the tuiter 

 edi^'es of the feathers sliirhtly niarifined or barred with white; sides of the 

 liead, throat, and upper breast viimeeous; a broml bhiek stripe on either side 

 of tlu; throat from tlie base of the bill, aiul a broad black crescent aerr)ss tho 

 breast; rest of the under parts white, more or less tinjred with vinaeeous, and 

 tiiiekly spotted with black. Ad. 9. — ^Similar, but without the black streaks 

 ou the side of the tliroat. L., I'JOU ; W., CuO ; T., 40U ; B., 1-40. 



Jion/irh. — Kxceptional specimens have a few red featiiers in tlie throat 

 stripes. A male from Louisiana bas this mark entirely red and the bead gray- 

 ish brown, wlule another si)ei-imen from Toronto has half the tail oranj,'e-red. 

 These unusual uuirliiiu's are supposed to be due to hybridization of our Flicker 

 with the western or Ked-sbafted Flicker, which reseml)les the eastern species 

 in pattern of coloration, but has the crown brownish gray or grayish brown, 

 the throat stripes scarlet, the throat and breast gray, the under surface of 

 wings anil tail ilull red, and lacks the red nuchal band. (See an important 

 paper on tiie relationships of these birds by Dr. J. A. Allen, in the Hull. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist, iv, is'jii, pp. -nU). 



KdiKje. — North America, west to the eastern slope of the Kocky Mountains 

 aiul Alaska; breeds throughout its range, and winters from Illinois and .Massa- 

 chusetts southward. 



Washington, couunon S. K., rare W. V. Sing Sing, conunon S. R., Mch. 

 25 to (Jet. 30; a few winter. t'ambri<lge, very common S. R., conunon W. V. 



iV'tvf^, in trees, about ten feet from the ground, frecjuently in orchards. 

 L'(j(j>i.i five to nine, Mn x 'SG. 



The habits, notes, and colors of this well-known bird are reflected 

 in the popidar names wliiidi have been applitni to it throughout its 

 wide range. Xo less than thirty-six of these aliases luive been re- 

 corded, and many have doubtless escaped the comj»iler. 



The Flicker is a bird of chiiracter. Although a Woodpecker, he 

 is too original to follow in the footsteps of others of his tribe. They 

 do not frecpient the ground, but that is no reason why he should not 

 humor his own terrestrial propensities, and we may therefore fre- 

 (]ueidly flush him from the earth, when, with a low chuckle, he goes 

 bounding off through the air, his white rump showing conspicuously 

 as he flies. 



