OF VIRGINIA 163 
eastern Minnesota, southwestern Ontario, western New 
York, southwestern Pennsvlvania, and Delaware suuth to 
central Texas and the Gulf Coast: casual north to Colo- 
rado and Massachusetts. 
While these birds are not a rare winter visitor in Tide- 
water, I have vet to find positive evidence of their breed- 
ing within that area. They are a bird of the thicker 
timber regions and the activity in the lumber business 
throughout our section has undoubtedly had much to do 
with their scarcity, like that of the Pileated Wood- 
pecker. The region between the south bank of the James 
River and the southern state line is their natural habitat. 
Their food is similar to that of the Downy and Iairy 
Woodpeckers, though their nesting cavity is usually placed 
much higher than those species. Four to five eggs is a 
full set, a glossy white, unmarked. Size, 1.02x.76. 
Fresh eggs May 1st to 10th. Only one brood a scason. 
I have found them particularly common in February in 
the hardwood timber tracts left by the lumbermen, after 
cutting the pines. They breed sparingly in the central 
and western part of our State. 
GENUS COLAPTES. 
[412]. Colaptes auratus auratus (Linneus). Flicker. 
[Yarup. High-Hole. Pigeon Woodpecker. Yellow- 
Hammer. Golden-winged Woodpecker]. 
Rayee.—Austroriparian zone of South Atlantic and 
Gulf States from southeastern Virginia and southern 
Tlinois to southern Florida and central Texas. 
