THE FLIOKEE. 133 



llv. Manl)- Plardy, of Brewer, Maine, writes me: "I once found one asloep 

 on tlio outside of a tree, late in the evening. I was traveling 1))' moonlight, and 

 knowing the exact location of the nest in a small poplar, decided to visit it. I 

 walked close inider the l)ird, without apparently waking him, and then struck the 

 tree a blow with a club, which I felt sure would stun him, but he flew off all 

 right. There was no bird inside of the hole, so he slept outside, clinging to the 

 tree, from choice. This proves that they can and do sleep in this way. In blue- 

 berr)^ time they congregate in flocks — I have seen at least thirty at once — and at 

 such times their entrails are dyed blue from the fruit eaten. I have fed the 

 young with strawberries when they were still in their nest, being obliged to put 

 the first into their bills ; but after that they ate them greedil}', and would scratch 

 up to the hole and look out when they heard me coming, acting just as if it was 

 the old bird which was feeding them." 



Nidificati'on in the southern portions of its range begins ordinarily in the 

 last half of March, and in the north from four to fully six weeks later. Both 

 sexes assist in the construction of the nesting site as well as in incubation, and 

 the male iisually does his full share of work at both. According to Dr. William 

 L. Ralph's observations in Florida, the male usually sits on the eggs during the 

 night. In the South fresh sets of eggs may be looked for during the first week in 

 April; in the vicinity of Washington, District of Columbia, during the first half 

 of iMa}', and in the more northern parts of its range, in Alaska and the North- 

 west Territory, about the first ten days in June. 



Flickers breeding in Florida are generally somewhat darker colored and 

 smaller than those from the more northern States, and this latter difference is 

 especially noticeable in the eggs. From five to nine eggs are usually laid to 

 a set, mostly six or seven; but considerably larger ones are sometimes found, 

 possibly the product of two females laying in the same nest; but the fecundity 

 of this Woodpecker is known to be very great. Prof B. W. Evermann took 

 not less than thirty-seven eggs from a pair of these birds (out of the same 

 nest) between May 4 and June 22, 1885; and a still more remarkable instance 

 is recorded in the "Young Oologist" (Vol. I, June, 1884, p. 26), by Mr. Charles 

 L. Phillips, of Taunton, Massachusetts, who found two eggs of this bird in a 

 cavity of a large willow on May 6, 1883, of which he took one, leaving the 

 other as a nest egg; and he continued to do this day after day until the poor 

 bird had laid seventy-one eggs in seventy-three days. Mr. Steward Ogilliy, of 

 Staten Island, New York, also reports, in "Forest and Stream" of June 2.5, 1 885 

 (p. 427), finding a brood of not less than nineteen young Flickers in one nest, 

 all alive and apparently in good condition. It seems almost impossible for a 

 single bird to cover and hatch such a number of eggs, but the fact that the 

 young were apparently well fed and in good condition is still more remarkable, 

 and the parents must certainb^ have had a busy time to nrovide for such a large 

 family. 



The eggs of the Flicker are glossy white in color, and when fresh appear 

 as if enameled; the shell is very close grained and exceedingly lustrous, as if 

 polished, resembling the eggs of the Ivory-billed and Pileated Woodpeckers in 



