The Western Belted Kingfisher 



which attends upon any exposure of the sahuaro tissue, as upon the 

 excavation of a nest. 



For the Gilded Flicker is at once janitor and high priest of the 

 Sahuaro. It is he who prepares, with Cousin Gila (Centurus uropygialis), 

 most of the lodgings, and he does this with rare and conscious foresight. 

 Scorning for himself a second-hand dwelling, even his own, the industrious 

 flicker delves out the nesting hollow a year ahead. And whenever this 

 attractive hollow happens to please a braver or less considerate bird, a 

 Purple Martin or an Elf Owl, the poor flicker has to delve again. And 

 because this has happened many, many times, the patient bird just keeps 

 on digging, so that there will surely be enough for all. 



Perhaps it is for this reason, also, that the Gilded Flicker rears a 

 much smaller family than does either of his close kinsmen, Colaptes 

 cafer or C. auratus. Four eggs is the almost invariable rule for Colaptes 

 chrysoides. Nesting is undertaken in early April, and second broods 

 are reared occasionally, although much less frequently than is the case 

 with the Gila Woodpecker. Flickers' eggs are crystal white, and so 

 transparent for the first day or so that one can determine from the outside 

 the precise stage of incubation. After that, the shells become opaque 

 or partially discolored. 



Gilded Flickers are neither as confiding nor as demonstrative as 

 are the related species. Without cover, they must flee at the approach 

 of danger; and there is no safe "middle distance" from which to upbraid 

 the intruder. If there are young, however, the mother bird will return 

 to the home tree and say, whoo' hoo hoo, whoo' hoo hoo, in a very anxious 

 voice. You can have mine, birdie; I don't want 'em. 



No. 206 



Western Belted Kingfisher 



A. O. U. No. 390a. Megaceryle alcyon caurina (Grinnell). 



Synonym. — Commonly called plain "Kingfisher." 



Description. — Adult male: Upperparts, sides of head, and a broad pectoral 

 band slaty blue (green-blue slate), the feathers chiefly with blackish shafts; feathers 

 of crown prolonged into loose occipital crest, and these with broader black central 

 stripes r the wing-coverts and inner primaries sharply and finely, the secondaries 

 broadly, tipped with white; edge of wing and exposed primaries black; the primaries 

 white-spotted centrally on outer webs, and nearly pure white on inner webs; concealed 

 portions of tail-feathers black, sharply barred or spotted-and-barred with white; a 

 touch of white in front of eye, and lower eyelid white; sides mingled slaty and white; 



IO49 



