The flickers lay from early April until well into June. The number of eggs in a clutch is normally three. With the single exception of one set of five we found none larger, and none smaller in which incubation had commenced.
The eggs of the Cape gilded flicker are apparently similar to those of other flickers, except in size. Mr. Bancroft (1930) gives the measurements of 18 eggs as averaging 26.3 by 20.9 millimeters. The measurements of 8 other eggs average 28.49 by 21.15 millimeters; the eggs, in this series, showing the four extremes measure 31.35 by 21.83, 30.15 by 22.22, 25.90 by 20.70, and 26.70 by 20.00 millimeters.
Its habits in general are apparently similar to those the gilded flicker of Arizona, on which more has been published, and the reader is referred to the following account of Colaptes chrysoides mearnsi.
DISTRIBUTION
Range.—Southern Arizona, southeastern California, and northwestern Mexico; nonmigratory.
The range of the gilded flicker extends north to extreme southeastern California (Duncan Flats); and southern Arizona (Antelope Peak, Bigbug, and the Salt River Bird Reservation). East to southeastern Arizona (Salt River Bird Reservation, Desert Wells, Picacho, Oracle, and Tombstone); central Sonora (Magdalena, Opodepe, Hermosillo, Cedros, and Camoa); and central Sinaloa (Culiacan). South to Sinaloa (Culiacan); and southern Baja California (Cape San Lucas). West to Baja California (Cape San Lucas, Todos Santos, Triunfo, Santa Margarita Island, San Javier, San Quintin, and the Alamo River); and southeastern California (Duncan Flats).
The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been separated into three geographic races. The typical race, known as the Cape gilded flicker (C. c. chrysoides), is found in the Cape district of Baja California and north to about latitude 28° N. The San Fernando flicker (C. c. brunnescens) occurs only within a range of two degrees latitude in Baja California (lat. 28° to 30° N.). Mearns’s gilded flicker (C. c. mearnsi) is the race found in the southwestern United States, northwestern Baja California, and the mainland of Mexico.
- Egg dates.—Arizona: 24 records, April 1 to June 11; 12 records, April 21 to May 20, indicating the height of the season.
- Baja California: 16 records, April 6 to May 20; 8 records, April 10 to May 17.