20 
The Flicker 
Of course the parents love their offspring, and are very attentive to them, 
for, like other young birds, they must be fed frequently to be kept in good 
condition. 
The Flicker must be popular with some of the other birds of the 
country, if wild birds ever really feel gratification from benefits they 
derive through the activities of another bird. Sparrow Hawks and 
Screech Owls choose the hollows of trees in which to rear their young 
In many places they would have a hard time indeed to find suitable nest- 
ing cavities were it not for the fact that, after some search, they usually 
discover an abandoned Flicker’s nest, which so well suits their needs. As 
the Flicker usually digs a new hole every year, it means that a consider- 
able number of convenient nesting-places are left for other birds that like 
to use such sites. Now and then we find even Bluebirds nesting in 
Flicker holes. 
Down in the pine-barrens skirting the Everglades of southern Florida, 
the writer recently came to a place where five or six pine-trees had been 
killed, possibly by a heavy thunderbolt. A pair of 
New Tenants Flickers had once dug a nest in the side of one of 
these trees. The next year, liking the locality, they 
made another excavation in which they doubtless reared their young. 
This year they occupied their third hole, which contained young 
large enough to look out of the entrance and receive there the food their 
parents brought. One of the abandoned holes had been appropriated this 
spring by a Florida Grackle ; and climbing up the dead tree I saw her 
young in the nest. Into the other unused hole Purple Martins were 
carrying nesting-materials. Another pair of Martins were anxious to 
nest in the neighborhood of their friends. With fragments of grass 
and leaves in her bill, the female would fly up to the Flicker’s occupied 
nest, evidently with a view to taking possession of it. At the moment 
she alighted a young Flicker would thrust its bill out in her face and 
beg for food. For some time I watched the discomfort of these birds, 
and am still wondering what was the final outcome. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Flicker belongs to the Order Pici, the Family Picidce, and the Genus 
Colaptes. Its scientific name is Colaptes auratus auratus. It is found in eastern 
North America, from the coast of the Gulf, of Mexico northward through the 
United States and Canada until the tree-limit is reached. One subspecies is recog- 
nized — the Northern Flicker (C. <a. luteus), a slightly larger bird, confined chiefly 
to the timbered regions of Canada. 
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