278 
PICIFORMES 
39 If). The hyoid or tongue hones are so long that in the normal position 
of rest they wind over the base of the skull along the crown and in some 
species penetrate the nostrils beneath the bill-sheath and finally rest 
their ends near the tip of the bill. As a further aid, large salivary glands 
secrete a sticky fluid for the tongue, to which small insects stick and are 
caught as with birdlime. A few species, for example the sapsuckers, 
have the tip of the tongue frayed out into a sort of brush, that is evidently 
used in gathering up sap (Figure 39 le). 
Economic Status. Of the general usefulness of the woodpeckers, 
with the exception of the sapsuckers, there can be little doubt. They 
are almost entirely insectivorous. They pursue wood-boring grubs by 
drilling holes in even apparently healthy though really infested trees and 
are, therefore, beneficial, not harmful. 
412. Yellow-shafted Flicker. yellow-hammer. iiighhole, golden-winged 
woodpecker, le pivart dore. Colaptes auratus. L, 12. Plate XXXVII B. Greyish 
fawn on back with broken bars of black; fawn face and throat fading to white below; 
light underparts 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 
Northern Flicker (le Pivart dor£ du Nord) Colaptes auratus luteus, 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- flicker- 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 fre- 
quented 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, which 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 
