IOWA ORNITHOLOGIST. 



75 



grating in greater abundance 

 along the larger streams and 

 lakes. How about it, boys ? 



That the Red-tailed Hawks 

 are nesting early in VanBuren 

 Co., Iowa, as Walter G. Savage 

 found a nest on the 1 5th of March 

 — and upon investigation found 

 that it contained three eggs. 



That the Iowa Ornithologist 

 has more subscribers in New York 

 than in any other state in the 

 union. Three cheers for the 

 Empire bretheren ! 



That the committee to prepare 

 a List of Iowa Birds, has com- 

 menced work. Chas. R. Keyes 

 at Blairstown, la., wants every 

 one of the members of the I. O. 

 A., whether rich or poor, high or 

 low, wise or other wise, to send 

 to him by May 51st, a check-list 

 of all the birds they have found 

 in the state. Let us surprise Bro. 

 Keyes and have the lists in before 

 that time. Wonder what he'd 

 think ? 



That the "Rambler" has writ- 

 ten more than he anticipated 

 when he took up his pencil; so he 

 must subside, for fear he will not 

 be allowed to come again. 



The Red'-shafted Flicker (Colaptes 

 cafer) in Central Iowa. 



BY CARL. FRITZ HENNING, BOONE, lA. 



On the last day in '95, my 

 friend Cal Brown brought in a 

 fine specimen of the Red-shafted 

 Flicker (Colaptes cafer). It was 

 a male in beautiful plumage. My 

 friend saw only two of these rare 



birds. They were feeding on the 

 ground in the edge of the woods 

 south of his home, Dec. 29,1895. 



The specimen that . is now in 

 my collection measures as follows: 

 Length, 12.30; extent, 20.40; 

 wing, 6.25; tail, 4.75; bill, 1.50. 

 The back, rump and upper sur- 

 face as in C. auratus (Golden- 

 winged), but a different shade of 

 color, a faintly reddish replacing 

 the olivaceous tinge of the ground 

 color. Wings and tail of the 

 same pattern, but the auration 

 replaced by rubefaction. Top of 

 head rufous (like the throat of 

 auratus); no occipital; red cres- 

 cent; throat and sides of head 

 and neck clear ash, scarlet maxil- 

 lary patches; a black pectoral 

 semilune. Under parts, very pale 

 lilac brown; fading to whitish on 

 the body, marked with numer- 

 ous round, black spots. Bill, 

 blackish slate; feet, dark plumbe- 

 ous. Iris, brown. Western 

 North America, mostly replacing 

 the Yellow Flicker from the Rocky 

 Mts. to the Pacific; Sitka into 

 Mexico. In habits a perfect count- 

 erpart of the common Flicker. — 

 Coues, page 493. I have made 

 a drawing of this specimen for 

 my book, "Notes on the Birds of 

 Boone County". This is the only 

 record that I have of Colaptes 

 cafer ever occurring in Iowa ex- 

 cepting one specimen of the spe- 

 cies which is at the Ames Agri- 

 cultural College and bears the 

 date, Ames, Iowa, Dec. 5, 1878. 



Does any member of the I. O. 

 A. know of its being taken else- 

 where in central Iowa ? 



