WOODPECKERS 221 
Nest. — Usually 10 to 20 feet from the ground in stubs or trees. Eggs: 
usually 5 to 9, white. 
Food. — Largely ants; also beetles, bugs, grasshoppers, crickets, and 
caterpillars, weed seeds and berries. 
The flickers of whatever local name or race are striking, forceful 
birds. Their clear ringing clape and piute command attention, while 
their rapidly uttered if-if-if-if-if-if-if is no less stirring. As they fly 
in undulating line over a field there is a splendid flash of red or 
golden from under their wings. At work or play they show the 
same vigor and whole-souled absorption, and their courtship is 
accordingly both ardent and amusing. 
As a genus the flickers are the least woodpecker-like of the fam¬ 
ily. Instead of getting their food from the tree trunks or in the air, 
they live largely on ants which they get from the ground, which 
accounts for the brown of their backs, the slenderness of their bills, 
and the character of their tongues. As they probe ant-hills to get 
the ants their tongues are very long and provided with large sali¬ 
vary glands whose sticky secretions hold the ants. As they do not 
spear their food the tongue is freer from barbs than that of most < 
other woodpeckers. 
413. Colaptes cafer collaris {Vigors). Red-shafted Flicker. 
Adult male. — Ground color of head and body brownish, back barred 
and under parts spotted with black; rump white and tail black ; no nu¬ 
chal band ; mustache red; chest marked with black crescent; under side of 
wings and tail red. Female: Similar, but usually with a huffy or brown 
malar stripe. Young: similar, but without mustache. Length: 12.75- 
14.00, wing 6.45-7.15, tail 4.40-5.20, exposed culmen 1.34-1.53. 
Remarks. — Birds with varying combinations of the characters of C. col¬ 
laris and C. luteus may be met with anywhere from the eastern border of 
the plains to the Pacific. 
Distribution. — Rocky Mountain region from British Columbia south to 
northern border of Mexico; west to the coast ranges in Oregon and 
Washington, and to the Pacific coast from northern California southward 
to Lower California. 
Nest. — From 2 to 70 feet from the ground in rotten stubs or trees, 
also in holes in banks, in sides of houses, and gate posts. Eggs: 5 to 10, 
white. 
Food. — Insects and larvae, especially ants, grasshoppers, and crickets, 
acorns, seeds, and wild berries. 
413a. Colaptes cafer saturatior ( Ridgw.). Northwestern 
Flicker. 
Similar to collaris , but darker. Wing: 6.35-7.00, tail 4.70-5.20, ex¬ 
posed culmen 1.35-1.60. 
Distribution. — Breeds in humid Transition and Canadian zones of the 
northwest coast from Sitka to northern California. 
Nest , eggs, and food same as in collaris. 
