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and flanks, with many sharp, round, black spots; a black gorget across breast; crown slate 
grey with red bar across nape. Male with black moustache mark from gape. Under- 
surface and shafts of flight and tail feathers in all plumages brilliant yellow; rump, white. 
Distinctions . Unmistakable for any other species except the Red-shafted Flicker, 
which differs in having a grey instead of vinaceous throat and face, a red instead of black 
moustache mark, and the yellow of wings and tail replaced by pinkish red. These two 
species hybridize extensively and all sorts of mixtures of characters may be found. A tint 
of grey in throat or face, tinge of red in the under-wing or tail surface, or specks of red in 
the moustache, are indicative of mixed blood. 
Field Marks . Size, general coloration with yellow under the wings visible in flight, 
and the white rump. Easily recognizable calls. 
Nesting. In hole in dead tree or stub. 
Distribution. Eastern North America from tree limit in the north, to the Gulf coast. 
In Canada, west to the Rocky mountains, and northwest to Alaska. In British Columbia, 
and adjacent Alberta, it intermixes and hybridizes freely with the Red-shafted Flicker. 
SUBSPECIES. The Yellow-shafted Flicker now attributed to Canada is the Boreal 
Flicker Colaptes auratus borealis, that extends into the north-central United States. 
The Flicker is perhaps the Woodpecker most familiar to the general 
public. Its loud, characteristic notes of “Flicker-jlicker-flicker ” , or long- 
drawn “Piew-w-w-w”, are well known and easily recognizable sounds. It 
has a habit of clinging to some hollow-sounding tree trunk and rolling out 
a long, reverberating tattoo that can be heard for long distances. It some- 
times uses a loose shingle or clapboard of a house or galvanized sheet as a 
drum or sounding board and delights itself with the increased efficiency 
of its efforts, often to the disturbance of others. 
Though a somewhat aberrant Woodpecker in habits, and less dependent 
on tree borers than many of the family, its summer range is strictly con- 
fined to localities where there is timber of sufficient size to be excavated 
for nesting holes. Consequently, in the great area of the bare prairies, 
the species is only an occasional visitor, but every wooded coulee is frequented 
by it, and it has found that the telegraph poles strung across the open are 
most excellent artificial stubs, and its range has been considerably increased 
by the building of telegraph and telephone lines. 
The Flicker is the carpenter of the bird world, and, without it, it is 
questionable where many cavity nesting species, that are unable to do their 
own excavating, would find quarters. Sparrow-hawks, Bluebirds, Tree 
Swallows, small Owls, and many other species are almost entirely dependent 
on the Flicker for nest holes. The reproductive powers of the Flicker 
are phenomenal. When eggs were taken away as they were laid, it has 
been known to lay thirty or more eggs in a season. 
The relation of this species to the Red-shafted Flicker is most interest- 
ing. It intermixes and crosses freely with that species and, near the line 
of contact between them, it is unusual to find pure-blooded birds of either 
species. That the two are distinct species and not subspecies is indicated 
by the nature of the intergrading specimens. The characters are not 
gradual blendings but mosaic mixtures. Thus the moustache mark is 
very seldom brown, which would be the result of blending between the 
black of the Yellow-shafted and the red of the Red-shafted, but it is pure 
black, pure red, black flecked with red, or vice versa. The same phenomenon 
is shown in the throat plumage, in which the feathers may be alternately 
grey and vinaceous, or one colour at the base and another at the tip; or even 
a difference between one barbule and the next. The underwing and under- 
tail surface may be orange, which is a blending between the yellow and 
red. This is not necessarily contrary to the rule of mosaic mixture in hv- 
