240 Birds of Colorado 
Habits.—The Flicker is one of the most familiar birds 
in Colorado. It is commonly seen in the suburban 
portions of the towns, often, unlike other Woodpeckers, 
perched crossways, and flying from tree to tree with its 
characteristic undulating line, which displays its white 
rump and a flash of red from under the wings. They 
are equally at home in open country far from trees, 
in the cotton-woods along the streams, or in the pine 
timber of the mountains. The cry is a clear ringing 
*Piute,” and a harsh and rather shrill chuckle is very 
characteristic. 
The bill of the Flicker is not so strong as that of other 
Woodpeckers, and they do not ‘‘drum ” on the tree-trunks 
nearly so often. They get their food on the ground 
to a great extent, often digging in pastures for worms 
and grubs and feeding largely on ants. They occasion- 
ally catch insects on the wing, and are fond of berries 
and small fruits as well as insects. 
The Flicker is no great excavator ; it uses by preference 
natural cavities or else chooses decayed trees for its 
nest-site ; it will make use of almost any tree available, 
and sometimes selects telegraph posts or buildings, or 
even a hayrick ; where there are no trees it occasionally 
makes a burrow in a bank. Gale sometimes witnessed 
a battle royal between the Flicker and the Screech Owl, 
for the possession of a desirable site; and old Flicker- 
holes are used by many other birds. The eggs, usually 
seven in number, are laid at the bottom of the cavity, 
on the wood chips ; occasionally many more eggs have 
been found, but in these cases they have probably been 
deposited by more than one female. The eggs are pure 
white and average 1:12 x °85. Gale found fresh eggs 
from May 5th to June 5th at 5,500 feet, and after June 
5th at 9,000 feet. On one occasion he found two nests 
