WOODPECKERS, CUCKOOS, ETC. 233 



the borders of the United States except during severe win- 

 ters, when some of them may be met with in Central Amer- 

 ica and Mexico. Among the first harbingers of spring, the 

 budding of the catkins and the flight of the flicker are 

 conspicuous. 



The males are droll creatures and so ardent in their woo- 

 ing that they become unsuspicious of mankind. Three, and 

 often five, yellow hammers may be seen ardently courting 

 the same female, whose absence of red on the nape of the 

 neck makes her identity certain. The flicker beats a rolHng 

 tattoo in spring. His vocal song proper is a rapid, oft- 

 repeated " cuh-cuh-cuh." It also has a " weechew-weechew " 

 song, from which comes its name "flicker." The quest of 

 ants has led this bird to terrestrial habits, so that it seems 

 to be gradually becoming a species of grouse. It is a very 

 useful bird and should be protected, even though it may be 

 fond of cherries. 



In June, 1896, I noticed a flicker emerging from a hole 

 in an apple tree. Examining the cavity, I found two eggs 

 resting on bits of decayed wood fourteen inches below the 

 entrance. 



I removed one egg, leaving the other as a "nestegg"; 

 returning day by day, repeating the operation during 

 a period of forty days, when the female had deposited 

 twenty-nine eggs. On one or two occasions there was an 

 interval of three days between laying. 



The nesting site is often a cavity which is originally dug 

 by the birds in their quest for ants and larvse. During the 

 labor of excavation the season for maternal duties arrives, 

 and the birds utilize the same tree on which perhaps half a 



