THE OOLOGIST 



161 



The Hybrid Flicker. 



The case of the Hybrid Flicker is 

 not that there is an occasional hybrid 

 among the Flickers along the eastern 

 base of the Rocky Mountains but that 

 liybrid birds are common. Dr. Elliott 

 Coues in his Key to North American 

 Birds, says of them: "A species, sub- 

 species, variety, race, strain hybrid, or 

 transitional form, in which the respec- 

 tive characters of C. auratus and C. 

 mexicanus are blended in every con- 

 ceivable degree in different specimens. 

 Moustaches red or black, or partly 

 both, on one or both sides of the body, 

 and present or absent in the g; red 

 moustache present with yellow wings 

 and tail, or black ones with red wings 

 and tail. Red nuchal crescent present 

 or absent; present in connection with 

 red wings and tail." "Such Flickers 

 prevail widely in the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, in some parts to the exclusion 

 of birds showing the proper charac- 

 ters of either species." Here in Weld 

 County, Colorado, fifteen miles from 

 the foothills of the mountains, the 

 Red-shafted Flicker is the common 

 Flicker, and 1 have never seen the 

 eastern Yellow-shaft, but the Hybrids 

 are quite common. I have not seen 

 the mixed moustache characters which 

 Dr. Coues mentions, but I have noticed 

 the yellow shafts, and the red nuchal 

 crescent in the male. 



Dr. Coues' remarks are so entertain- 

 ing and instructive that I quote fur- 

 ther from him. "The case is unique 

 in ornithology, and has proved refrac- 

 tory to the machinery of zoological 

 classification — tot homines, tot senten- 

 tiae. It was first brought to light in 

 1843 when Audubon found the birds he 

 subsequently named C. Ayersii at old 

 Fort Union at the mouth of the Yellow- 

 stone river, on the Missouri, at tlie 

 present border between North Dakota 

 and Montana; I have read in his man- 

 uscript, penned on the spot, his naive 



expression of amazement at a phe- 

 nomenon which has served to pique 

 the curiosity and complete perplexity 

 from that day to this." 



Geo. E. Osterhout. 

 Windsor, Colo. 



Some Western Birds. 



White-throated Swift. 

 Aeronautes melanoleucus! What a 

 charm the very name has for me. 

 There is something about it suggestive 

 of the wildness and freedom of the 

 bird himself. White-throated Swift! 

 To me it always brings a picture of a 

 precipitous rock-wall above the foam- 

 ing Santa Clara where I first met this 

 dashing aeronaut; the memories of 

 lofty pine meadows beloved of the (Cal- 

 ifornia Condor, and of boulder-strewn 

 gorges where the murmur of falling 

 waters mingled with the song of Can- 

 yon Wren and Water Ouzel. 



Since that first memorable day I 

 have met the handsome fellow many 

 times, and learned to love him well. 

 With the heart of an Eagle, the speed 

 of a Falcon, and the trim neatness of 

 a Hummingbird, he is indeed the very 

 spirit of the storms that blow about 

 his rocky fastness. 



In Southern California the White- 

 throated Swift is a permanent resi- 

 dent. During most of the year the 

 birds remain in the isolated mountain- 

 ous regions, coming down into the 

 lower country only when driven by 

 the wintry gales. Yet common as they 

 are in chosen sections, so swift and 

 sure is their flight that they defy the 

 efforts of the most expert wing shot, 

 and their eggs are seldom taken from 

 the usually inaccessible crevices of 

 the cliffs. 



The bird is from six and one-half to 

 seven inches in length; black except 

 for white throat and breast and white 

 patches on wing and side of rump; the 

 wing is from five and one-half to six 



