160 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XVII 
date I have recorded being September 4th. Most of the birds leave for their 
breeding grounds about the first of April, though I have recorded them as late 
as April 15. They sometimes join the Gila Woodpeckers in feeding on the 
stored corn on the roofs of the Indian homes. 
Mearns Gilded Flicker ( Colaptes clirysoides mearnsi) is abundant through- 
out this region, and is found in cottonwood and willow groves as well as wher- 
ever the giant cactus grows. The giant cactus is to this Flicker and the Gila 
Woodpecker, what the bamboo is to the inhabitants of some of the eastern 
islands. The cactus could get along without the flickers, though it probably 
would not feel properly ventilated without a few nest holes, and it would not 
look at all natural without them. The cactus furnishes the birds with home, 
shelter, food and possibly drink. They roost in the holes and seek them as re- 
treat from rain storms. More than once when driving through a heavy rain 
have I seen a flicker’s head thrust from a hole in an inquiring way as though 
to say ‘‘look who’s here”. 
The Gilded Flickers are much quieter than the Gilas, and are not so much 
in evidence around homes, though they do not appear to be very timid. They 
are simply less sociable I presume. They resort regularly to the Indian corn- 
cribs and are seen in corn fields though I have never noticed them actually 
engaged on an ear of green corn as I have the Gilas. They probably attack 
the green corn but are quiet about the work instead of advertising their pres- 
ence. They eat largely of the cactus fruit and possibly of the pulp at certain 
lean seasons. They are very fond of watermelon, and eat freely of it when it 
is placed on bird tables or on the ground in shade of tree or shed. They ap- 
pear to feed frequently on the ground in the way the Red-shafted does, and 
are probably after ants most of the time. I have seen them at work on an ant 
hill and even pecking into the ground after the insects. When melon is placed 
both on the tables and on the ground, they resort more often to that on the 
ground while the Gilas prefer the tables. However, I have never seen the flick- 
ers drink from the pool of water provided, though the Gilas occasionally do. 
They are peaceable and impress me as being eminently practical and mat- 
ter of fact. Each one minds his own business and seems willing to live and let 
live. They do not assemble in numbers as the Gilas do sometimes, but are 
solitary or in pairs. They have the same habit of pecking the walls of build- 
ings as have the Red-shafted Flickers, and one has worked spasmodically at 
the shingled gable of the school house here for the past three years. I take it 
to be the same individual, for he is rather tame and roosts each night above one 
of the window casings. A few times T have seen a Gila Woodpecker at work 
at the same point in the wall but usually his time is put in on a telephone pole 
in the yard. The notes of this flicker are quite similar to those of the Red- 
shafted, but not so frequent nor quite so loud. 
The nests are found in giant cactus, cottonwood and willow, and in that 
order as to frequency, the giant cactus leading. Nests are in the giant cactus 
or Saguaro as it is called, far from water, and in cottonwood and willow along 
the river, on banks of the canals, or even standing in stagnant water pools. Of 
twenty-seven nests examined, containing eggs or young, twenty-one were in 
the Saguaro, four in willow, and two in cottonwood. Others were seen in cot- 
tonwood but too difficult of access, and many in the cactus were out of reach. 
Tf careful count were made I believe about ninety per cent would be found in 
the cactus. Nests in cottonwood and willow ranged from five to twenty-five 
