RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 59 



RED-SHAFTED FLICKER. 



(Colaptes cafer collaris and other subspp.) 



The red-shafted flicker inhabits that part ol North America west- 

 ward from the Great Plains, where its range meets that of the golden- 

 winged woodpecker. Typical specimens of Colaptes cafer collaris are 

 found as far east as South Dakota, central Iowa, and central Texas. 

 The writer took them in winter at Ames, Iowa, for several years in 

 succession. The eastern and western forms of the flicker nest in 

 the same kind of places, their voices and manner of flight are the 

 same, as are their methods of feeding, and practically their food. 

 The differences of plumage can be certainly distinguished only when 

 the bird is near. The western species has one habit which the east- 

 ern one rarely shares, that of pecking holes in cornices and cupolas 

 in order to prepare a winter home. As most of the eastern flickers 

 migrate in winter, the few that remain usually find lodging places 

 in trees. In California, where the birds do not migrate in winter, 

 much complaint has been made against them for disfiguring and 

 injuring buildings. 



For the investigation of the food of the red-shafted flicker 183 

 stomachs were available. They were collected in 10 States and in 

 British Columbia, but more than three-fourths of them came from 

 California. They are distributed through every month of the year, 

 but the warmer seasons are represented by entirely too few. The food 

 was found to consist of 67.74 per cent of animal matter to 32.26 of 

 vegetable. This is over 6 per cent more animal food than is eaten 

 by the eastern species. This difference occurs almost entirely in the 

 winter months, when, in the East, the ground is more or less covered 

 with snow and insects are not readily obtained, while seeds and 

 berries are still accessible. 



Animal food. — Useful Coleoptera, i. e., predaceous ground beetles, 

 amount to 3.89 per cent of the food, but appear to be eaten very 

 irregularly. In January and March they amount to 17 per cent of 

 the food and in November to 7.28 per cent. In two months they 

 barely reach 1 per cent, and in all the others they are but a trace or 

 do not appear at all. This would seem to indicate that these insects 

 are taken only when better food is not at hand. Other beetles 

 amount to 2.66 per cent. They are largely Scarabseidae or May 

 beetles, most of them in the larval stage. The larvae live to a great 

 extent in rotten wood and rubbish, and some species that live on 

 plant roots are often turned up by the plow. They seem to form 

 quite a constant element of the food of both species of flicker. Ants 

 are the favorite food of this bird as well as of its eastern relative. 

 They aggregate 53.82 per cent of the food, which is more than 4 per 

 cent higher than the record of auratus, though it is doubtful if this 



