WOODPECKERS 175 



whick-ah, whick-ah call which gives them their common 

 name. 



The nest of this bird is usually excavated in a hollow in a 

 tree, but is sometimes in a natural hollow; soft wood trees, 

 as poplar, willow, apple, elm, sycamore, and pine, are pre- 

 ferred. The entrance hole may be as high as 60 feet from 

 the ground or as low as 3 feet. The usual number of eggs is 

 from 5 to 9. 



Food habits. — The flicker takes a great variety of food, 

 which extensive stomach examinations have shown to consist 

 of approximately 61 per cent animal matter and 39 per cent 

 vegetable. Ants seem to be the favorite food and are eaten 

 in every month. They constitute almost exactly half of the 

 total food and were found in 524 of the 684 stomachs exam- 

 ined. Ninety-eight stomachs contained no other food. Prof. 

 Beal mentions one stomach and crop filled with very small 

 ants, which he estimated to number over 5,000. The flicker's 

 fondness for these insects doubtless furnishes the principal 

 reason for its habit of feeding on the ground. The remainder 

 of the animal food is made up of beetles, grasshoppers, and 

 crickets, with a few caterpillars, spiders, myriapods, cinista- 

 ceans, and snails. 



The vegetable food consists mainly of small wild fruits, of 

 which 31 species have been identified. Mast is taken only 

 occasionally, chiefly in winter, and corn was found in only 

 17 stomachs. Summing up the economic position of this bird, 

 Prof. Beal says: 



From the point of view of the food analyst, the farmer and 

 horticulturist have very little quarrel with the flicker. It eats 

 only a few predacious ground beetles. The remainder of the 

 animal food is entirely of harmful species. In its vegetable 

 diet, grain and fruit are the only useful products eaten, and 

 the quantities are insignificant. The bird, like many others, 

 has the bad habit of sowing broadcast the seeds of the poison 

 Rhus, but there seems no remedy for this.* 



NORTHERN FLICKER: Colaptes auratus luteus Bangs. 



State records. — The northern race of the flicker breeds in 

 the extreme northern counties and occurs as an abundant 



•Beal, F. E. L., Biol. Surv. Bull. 87, pp. 52-58, 1911. 



