FICID^:: WOODFECKEIiS. 
493 
will find specimens auratus on one side of the body, mexicanus on the other, — tail gilded on 
some feathers, rubricated on others, etc. 
45T. c. aura'tus. (Lat. mtraYws, golden, gilded. Figs. 344, 345.) Golden- winged Woodpecker. 
Pigeon Woodpecker. Flicker. Yucker. High-holder. Back and exposed surfaces 
of wing-coverts and secondaries olive-brown with numerous black bars. Rump snowy-white; 
upper tail-coverts white, mixed with black. Primaries blackish, with golden shafts, and glossed 
with golden underneath, at their bases paler and more tawny yellow. Tail-feathers above black, 
their shafts and under surfaces golden, blackened at ends, the outermost with a few touches of 
yellow or white. Top of head, with back and sides of neck, ash, with a scarlet nuchal band (in 
both sexes). Sides of head, whole chin, throat, and fore-breast lilac-brown, with broad black 
cheek patches, these ^ moustaches ' wanting usually in the 9 • A broad black pectoral semi- 
-lune. Other under parts shading from a lighter shade of the color of the breast into creamy- 
yellow, marked with numerous circular black spots. Bill and feet dark plumbeous. Iris brown. 
Length 12.00-13.00 ; extent 18.00-21.00, usually about 20.00; wing 5.75-6.25 ; tail 4.50; bill 
1.25-1.50; whole foot 2.33. Young similar : more red on head. Eastern North Am. ; keeping 
pretty straight to the upper Missouri, where, as said, adulterating with mexicanus; pure to the 
Pacific in Alaska. The first deviation is the appearance of red feathers in the black maxillary 
patches ; these increase till they prevail, finally to the exclusion of the black, resulting in the 
wholly red patch of C. mexicanus. With this change occurs the diminution and final extinction 
of the scarlet nuchal crescent; when, coincidently, we find the characteristic golden-yellow on 
the wings and tail passing through an intermediate orange into the red of mexicanus, a change 
accompanied with another aff'ecting the peculiar lilac-brown of the throat and olive-brown of 
the back, which become respectively ashen and purplish-gray. One of the most abundant and 
best-known species of the family, in any woodland, and sometimes foraging for food in open 
country far from trees ; a great ant-eater. A lively bird, of sunny temperament, like its 
feathers, faithful and devoted, assiduous and successful in domestic afi'airs, and a good house- 
keeper. Eggs usually 6 or 7 ; under exceptional circumstances 18 to 23 have been taken from 
one hole; averaging 1.10 X 0.90. Migratory northerly. 
458. chrysoi'des. (Gr. xP^^'^'^j chriisos, gold ; eldos, eidos, like.) Gilded Woodpecker. Body, 
wings and tail, substantially as in auratus; head as in mexicanus; $ with scarlet moustaches ; 
no red on nape in either sex ; crown lilac-brown ; chin, throat, and fore-breast ash ; sides 
tinged with creamy-brown, belly with yellowish. There are, hoM^ever, some specialties. 
Golden of wings and tail less vivid than in auratus; tail-feathers black for about half their 
length. General tone of under parts pale, without the decided tints of either of the other 
species, the round black spots large and crowded. Top of head purer and more cinnamon 
brown than in mexicanus. Smaller: wing about 5.50; tail about 4.00. Gradation between 
this form and mexicanus has not yet been observed. Valley of the Colorado River, Lower 
California and southward. 
459. C. mexica'nus. (Of Mexico.) Red-shafted Woodpecker. Mexican Flicker. Back, 
rump, and upper surfaces of wings and tail as in G. auratus, but a different shade of color, a 
faintly reddish replacing the olivaceous tinge of the ground-color. Wings and tail of the same 
pattern, but the auration replaced by rubefaction. Top of head rufous (like the throat of 
auratus) ; no occipital red crescent in either sex. Throat and sides of head and neck clear 
ash, with scarlet maxillary patches in the ^ . A black pectoral semilune. Under parts very 
pale lilac-brown, fading to whitish on the beUy, marked with numerous round black spots. 
Bill blackish-slate ; feet dark plumbeous. Iris brown. Size of C. auratus. Western North 
Am., mostly replacing the yellow flicker from the Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, Sitka into 
Mexico. In habits a perfect counterpart of the common flicker. 
