158 Indian Museum Notes, C Vol. IV. 



ivy seeds were eaten by seven birds, and poison sumac by only one, 

 so that not so many seeds of these undesirable shrubs are distri- 

 buted by the Hairy as by the Downy. The weed seeds in the 

 stomachs were few in number, but in Iowa both the Hairy and the 

 Downy Woodpeckers feed largely on weed seeds in winter, sto- 

 machs taken then containing little else. Rubbish amounts to about 

 one-twelfth of all their food, which is the largest percentage shown 

 by any species, 



Dr. Merriam informs me that in Northern New York the Hairy 

 Woodpecker, like the other woodpeckers of the Adirondack region, 

 feeds largely on beech-nuts. In late fall, winter, and early spring 

 following good yields of beech-nuts, the nuts form the principal food 

 of the woodpeckers. 



FLICKER. 



{Colaptes auratus.) 



This bird, one of the largest and best known of our woodpeckers, 

 is more migratory than either the Hairy or Downy, in winter being 

 scarce or absent from its breeding range in the Northern States, 

 when it is very abundant in summer and early fall. The Yellow- 

 shafted Flicker is distributed throughout the United States, east of 

 the Rocky Mountains. In the West it is replaced by the Red-shafted 

 Flicker, which may be considered the same so far as food habits are 

 concerned. Under one or the other of its various titles of Flicker, 

 Golden-winged Woodpecker, High-holder, Yellow-hammer, Pigeon 

 Woodpeckef, and Hairy-wicket, it is known to every farmer and 

 schoolboy and, unfortunately to certain so-called sportsmen also, for 

 this is the one woodpecker that is often seen in city markets. In 

 most places it is a much shyer bird than either of the preced- 

 ing, and while it frequents the farm and approaches buildings freely, 

 it keeps more in the tops of the trees and does not allow so near 

 an approach of its greatest enemy, man. This is particularly true 

 in the north-eastern part of the country, where large bags of Pigeon 

 Woodpeckers are annually made among the wild cherry trees in 

 which the birds feed. The Flickers soon learn whom they have 

 to fear, and such knowledge seems to be hereditary. They are very 

 prolific, rearing from six to ten young at a brood, and so keep 

 reasonably abundant in most parts of the country. The Flicker is 

 the most terrestrial of all the woodpeckers, in spite of his high-perch- 



