The Red-shafted Flickers 



Taken in Oregon 



singer, or instrumental maestro; but so long as the great orchestra of 

 Nature is rendering the oratorio of life, there will be place for the drummer, 

 the screamer, and the utterer of strange sounds, as well as for the human 

 obbligato. The Flicker is first, like all other woodpeckers, a drummer. 

 The long rolling tattoo of early springtime is elicited from some dry limb 

 or board where the greatest resonance may be secured, and it is intended 

 both as a musical performance and as a call of inquiry. Once, as a 



student, the writer 

 roomed in a large build- 

 ing, whose unused chim- 

 neys were covered with 

 sheet-iron. A Flicker 

 had learned the acoustic 

 value of these elevated 

 drums, and the sound of 

 this bird's reveille at 

 4:00 a. m. was a regular 

 feature of life at 'Coun- 

 cil Hall.' 



"The most charac- 

 istic of the bird's vocal 

 efforts is a piercing call 

 delivered from an ele- 

 vated situation, clape or 

 kly-ak, and cheer or kee- 

 yer. The scythe-whet- 

 ting song is used for 

 greeting, coaxing or ar- 

 gumentation, and runs 

 from a low wee-co, wee-co 

 — through wake-up, wake- 

 up, wake-up — to an em- 

 phatic wy'-kle, wy'-kle, 

 wy'-kle, or, in another 

 mood, sounds like flicker, 

 flicker, flicker. 



"In the early days 

 of April, courtship is in 

 progress, and the love- 

 making of the Flicker is 

 both the most curious 



Photo by A. W. Anthony 



NEST AND EGGS OF RED-SHAFTED FLICKER 



IO42 



