THE BIRDS THAT IVH SEE. 
773 
t 
! 
Redwinged Blackbird—Male and Female. 
attention to it by fashioning j^arts of his 
song on the model furnished him by his 
cousin in the ermine vest. 
On the lawn we may also see the 
flicker [p. 774], or golden-winged wood¬ 
pecker, a large bird, which, though clad 
in very bright colors, is described by the 
country boys as a gray bird. At a dis¬ 
tance, he certainly does look gray and 
brown, but the under sides of his wings 
and tail are of a rich yellow, and the cres¬ 
cent across his naj)e is of a bright red. 
Though he is a woodpecker, he is often 
seen on the ground, and, in fact, gathers 
at least one-half of his food there. As 
he flies, one sees a large gray bii’d with 
a dim halo of yellow about it, and on the 
rump a blazing star of 2 )urest white. 
Tliis is, of course, as he flies from one, if, 
l)y chance, he is coming toward the ob¬ 
server, the white star is replaced by the 
i)lack moon which he wears on his 
breast. The flicker has a hmg array of 
names, many of them, like flicker, elape, 
wake-up, yarriip, etc., are derived from 
his notes, which are varied and sono¬ 
rous ; others, like, high-hole and high- 
holder, allude to his true woodpecker 
habit of boring a hole for his nest high 
up in some dead truidv. The Spaniards 
called hiiij, “ carpentero,” and in the 
sense of worker in wood and house-pro¬ 
vider for others, this is very apt, for at 
least a score of species stand ready to 
avail themselves of the commodious 
cpiarters excavated by the flicker, as 
soon as he sees lit to abandon it. 
Again, passing through the orchard, 
we may espy the humble relative of the 
flicker, the little black and white wood- 
jiecker, or his brother, the liaiiy wood- 
l^ecker, in search of his pre}" about the 
bark of the old apple-trees [p. 775]. 
While high in the air over all, and making 
their citadel about the outbuildings, are 
the four common swallows — the barn- 
swallow [p. 775], known, at once, by his 
pale chestnut breast and long forked tail; 
the cliff - swallow, recognizable by his 
