26 
Conservation Bulletin 18 
Fig. 21.—Flicker. 
•' Jlft 
Length, about VZ\ inches. 
One of the larger woodpeckers familiar to everyone is the flicker, or golden- 
winged woodpecker 68 (fig. 21), which is generally distributed throughout the 
United States from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains. There it is 
replaced by the red-shafted flicker, 69 which extends westward to the Pacific. 
The two species are as nearly iden¬ 
tical in food habits as their respec¬ 
tive environments will allow. The 
flickers, while genuine woodpeck¬ 
ers, differ somewhat in habits from 
the rest of the family, and are fre¬ 
quently seen searching for food 
upon the ground. Like the downy 
and hairy woodpeckers, they feed 
upon wood-boring grubs and ants, 
but the number of ants eaten is 
much greater than that eaten by 
the other two species. Of the flick¬ 
ers’ stomachs examined, three were 
completely filled with ants. Two 
of these contained more than 3,000 
individuals each, while the third 
contained fully 5,000. These ants 
belong to species which live in the 
ground. It is these insects for which 
the flicker searches when it runs about in the grass, although some grasshoppers 
also are then taken. The flicker’s habit of pecking holes in buildings sometimes 
greatly annoys its human friends, and- it is particularly noticeable in the Cali¬ 
fornia species. Observation has shown that the object of the work is to obtain 
shelter for the winter. In the East most of the flickers are migratory, and only a 
few remain North where shelter is necessary. These generally find a safe retreat 
in the hollow tree in which they nested. In California, however, where the 
birds do not migrate, trees are not 
so abundant as in the East, and 
consequently buildings are brought 
into requisition, and in them holes 
are drilled, usually under the eaves, 
where snug nights’ lodgings are 
found. Often a dozen holes may 
be seen in one building. Barns or 
other outbuildings are usually se¬ 
lected, though churches sometimes 
have been used. 
The red-headed woodpecker 60 (fig. 
22) is well known east of the Rocky 
Mountains, but is rather rare in 
New England. Unlike some of the 
other species, it prefers fence posts 
and telegraph poles to trees as 
a foraging ground. Its food there¬ 
fore naturally differs from that of 
the preceding species, and consists 
largely of adult beetles and wasps 
which it frequently captures on the 
wing after the fashion of flycatch¬ 
ers. Grasshoppers also form an 
important part of the food. Among 
the beetles are a number of pre¬ 
dacious ground species and some 
tiger beetles, which are useful insects. The red-head has been accused 
of robbing nests of other birds, and of pecking out the brains of young birds 
and poultry; but as the stomachs showed little evidence to substantiate this 
charge, the habit probably is exceptional. 
The vegetable food of woodpeckers is varied, but consists largely of small 
fruits and berries. The downy and hairy woodpeckers eat such fruits as dog- 
Fig. 22.- 
-Red-headed woodpecker, 
about 91 inches. 
Length, 
68 Colaptes auratus. 69 Oolaptes cafer o&llaris. 
60 Melcmerpes orythrocephalus. 
