THE CxUADALUPE FLICKER. 141 



"Of all the species of this family I have ever met with, none have been so 

 tame and unsuspicious or less frightened by the report of a gun. In January 

 I witnessed a peculiar habit not before noticed, I believe, in birds of this genus. 

 A pair of Flickers were perched facing each other upon a gnarled root about 3 

 feet from the ground, their heads within a foot of each other. Suddenly the 

 male, who had been sitting motionless before the female, began a somewhat 

 grotesque performance, which consisted in a rapid bobbing of his head. In this 

 he was immediately followed by the female. This spasmodic bobbing and 

 bowing they repeated alternately a few times, when both stopped as suddenly 

 as they had commenced. After an interval of a few seconds the male began 

 againj and was joined by the female. The movement resembled more an 

 upward jerk of the head than a bow. 



"Approaching on my hands and knees to get a closer view, I could hear a 

 low, chuckling sound while these strange actions were in progress. What the 

 outcome of this love-making — for such I regarded it — would have been I did 

 not ascertain. The fear of losing the specimens — almost the first I had seen — 

 prompted me to fire. The first shot brought down the female. At the report 

 away flew the male, followed by another male, which, unseen by me, had been 

 quite near, on the ground. They returned while I was still holding the female, 

 and thus gave me an opportunity of securing them both. Their evident lack of 

 timidity permitted me to draw near enough to plainly distinguish the character- 

 istic bright red cheek patches. In February I saw a repetition of the action 

 above noted, the birds being in a cypress tree above me. They were very 

 tame, especially the female, who came quite near as I lay upon the ground, 

 whistling "quit-tu, quit-tu," and watching her puzzled actions. In a half-dead 

 cvpress this pair had partially pecked a cavity for a nest. In addition to the 

 familiar scythe- whetting notes they have the peculiar "wake-up" call and its 

 rapid prelude of monosyllables. By imitating this call I decoyed a distant 

 female to within short range, the bird coming through the thickest of the 

 cvpress grove, stopping at short intervals to call and listen for a reply. 



"The food of this species during- a portion of the .year consists largely of 

 smooth-skinned caterpillars, besides numerous beetles and ants; the latter are 

 always obtainable and, growing to a large size, figure as an important item of 

 their diet. The scarcity of decayed trees, with the exception of fallen ones, 

 necessitates either work upon seasoned wood or the resort to dead palm stumps. 

 The nests will therefore be found at heights varying from 3 to 15 feet. 



"By March 16 the birds were invariably found in pairs, and my wish to 

 secure a setting of eggs before departing seemed in a fair way of being fulfilled. 

 Strolling among the cypress, on the 27th of March, I found four trees upon 

 which the birds were at work or had been recently, and in such cases the birds 

 themselves were always to be found in the immediate vicinity. Passing a half- 

 dead tree, I heard the sounding taps of a Woodpecker at work, and as I neared 

 the spot the slight noise which I made as I carefully picked my way over the 

 rock-strewn ground caused a handsome male bird to suddenly appear at an 



