132 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Columbia, these birds nest in the oak, ash, chestnut, elm, maple, poplar, willow 

 and sycamore; spruce and birches are also used, but, on the whole, soft-wood trees 

 seem to be preferred to hard ones. In the Southern States it breeds frequently 

 in pines, and in the prairie States it occasionally selects strange nesting- sites. 

 Here it has been known to chisel through the weather-boarding of dwelling 

 houses, barns, and other outbuildings, and to nest in the hollow space between 

 this and the crossbeams; its nests have also been found in gateposts where both 

 people and stock pass constantly, in church towers, and ill burrows of Kingfishers 

 and Bank Swallows in the perpendicular banks of streams. Dr. G. S. Agersborg, . 

 of Vermillion, South Dakota, records finding a nest of a Flicker in an old wagon 

 hub, about 2 feet from the ground, and hidden by a rank growth of weeds; but 

 the most peculiar nesting site I have ever heard of is one described to me by 

 Mr. William A. Bryant, of New Sharon, Iowa, under date of December 7, 1892. 

 He writes* "On a small hill, a quarter of a mile distant from my home, stood a 

 haystack which had been placed there two years previously. The owner, dur- 

 ing the winter of 1889-90, had cut the stack through the middle and hauled 

 away one portion, leaving the other standing with the end smoothly trimmed. 

 The following spring I noticed a pair of Yellow-shafted Flickers about the stack 

 showing signs of wanting to make it a fixed habitation. One morning a few 

 days later I was amused at the efforts of one of the pair. It was clinging to the 

 perpendicular end of the stack and throwing out chipped hay at a rate to defy 

 competition. This work continued for nearly a week, and in that time the pair 

 had excavated a cavity 20 inches in depth. The entrance was located 8£ feet 

 above ground, and was 2J inches in diameter and dug back into the stack for 6 

 inches, where it turned sharply downward and was slightly enlarged at the 

 bottom. On May 28 I took a handsome set of seven eggs from the nest, the 

 eggs lying on a bed of chipped hay. The birds lingered about the stack and 

 by June 14 had deposited another set of eggs. They remained in the vicinity 

 until autumn. During that winter the balance of the stack was removed. They 

 returned the following spring, and, after a brief sojourn, departed for parts 

 unknown. I never could quite understand the philosophy of their peculiar choice 

 of this site, as woodland is abundant here. A well-timbered creek bottom was 

 less than half a mile distant, while large orchards and groves surround the place 

 on every hand." 



Flickers nest occasionally m natura,. cavities and at distances from the 

 ground varying from 2J to 60 feet, but mostly between 10 and 20 feet. Old 

 rotten stumps, and dead or partly decayed trees are preferred to live ones. The 

 entrance hole is usually 2 J inches in diameter, and the inner cavity varies from 8 

 to 30 inches in depth. It is gradually enlarged toward the bottom, and a layer 

 of fine chips, on which the eggs are deposited, is allowed to remain. Its flight, 

 although apparently laborious, is strong and swift, and, like that of all Wood- 

 peckers, undulating or wave-like. It frequently perches on a limb instead of 

 clinging to it, as do others of the tribe. In the spring of the year it also 

 indulges in drumming, but not to the same extent as the majority of this family. 



