A BIRD OF MANY NAMES 15 



upward and downward, his golden wings flash back one of 

 his names as he flies to safety on some distant post or tree. 

 Unhke most birds of this Order, this species frequently perches 

 crosswise on a limb, like a true perching bird. 



This is the woodpecker of many names, some of which 

 are Flicker, High-Hole and Yellow-Hammer. His regular call 

 sounds like " Cheer-upl" but in spring he gives forth a call 

 which comes very near to being a song. When written out, 

 it is like " Cook-cook-cook-cook ! " At that season, also, you 

 hear this bird beat the "long roll," on a drum which Nature 

 provides for him in the shape of a hollow tree with a thin, 

 hard shell. The rapidity and force with which the bird strikes 

 the blows producing this sound are almost beyond belief. 



An examination of the stomach contents of many speci- 

 mens of this species showed 56 per cent of insect food, 39 

 vegetable and 5 mineral. Of the insect food, ants made up 

 43 per cent and beetles 10 per cent. The vegetable food rep- 

 resented two kinds of grain (corn and buckwheat), eighteen 

 kinds of wild berries, and fifteen kinds of seeds, mostly of 

 weeds. Out of 98 stomachs examined in September and 

 October only 4 contained corn. Practically, this bird does no 

 damage to man's crops, but destroys great quantities of harm- 

 ful insects. 



The range of the Golden-Wing embraces the eastern half 

 of the United States to the Rocky Mountains, where it is met 

 by the Red-Shafted Flicker of the Pacific slope. 



The Red-Headed Woodpecker^ need not be described, 

 because, in "Hiawatha," Longfellow has immortahzed it. 



^ Mel-an-er'pes e-ryth-ro-ceph'a-lus. Length, 9,50 inches. 



