Taken in Rainier National Park. Photo by W. Leon Dawson.
A NESTING SITE OF THE NORTHWEST FLICKER.
THE LARGEST STUB CONTAINED SIX EGGS ON THE POINT OF HATCHING JULY 7, 1908, WHEN THIS PICTURE WAS TAKEN.

In the early days of April courtship is in progress, and the love-making of the Flicker is both the most curious and the most conspicuous of anything in that order. An infatuated Flicker is a very soft and foolish-looking bird, but it must be admitted that he thoroly understands the feminine heart and succeeds in love beyond the luck of most. A bevy of suitors will lay siege to the affections of a fair lady, say in the top of a sycamore tree. Altho the rivalry is fierce, one gallant at a time will be allowed to display his charms. This he does by advancing toward the female along a horizontal limb, bowing, scraping, pirouetting, and swaying his head from side to side with a rythmical motion. Now and then the swain pretends to lose his balance, being quite blinded, you see, by the luster of milady’s eyes, but in reality he does it that he may have an excuse to throw up his wings and display the dazzling flame which lines them. The lady is disposed to be critical at first, and backs away in apparent indifference or flies off to another limb in the same tree. This is only a fair test of gallantry and provokes pursuit, as was expected. Hour after hour, and it may be day after day, the suit is pressed by one and another until the maiden indicates her preference, and begins to respond in kind by nodding and bowing and swaying before the object of her choice, and to pour out an answering flood of softly whispered adulation. The best of it is, however, that these affectionate demonstrations are kept up during the nesting season, so that even when one bird relieves its mate upon the eggs it must needs pause for a while outside the nest to bow and sway and swap compliments.

The Northwestern Flicker is largely, but not exclusively, resident in winter. Being restricted at that season as to its insect diet, its presence appears to depend more or less upon the abundance of fruits and nuts. It eats not only grubs and worms but seeds, acorns and berries of various kinds. The fruit of the madrone appears to be a special favorite with this bird, as it is with the Robin, and I fancied that Flickers were unusually abundant on that account in the winter of 1907-08.

Cuculidæ—The Cuckoos

No. 180.
CALIFORNIA CUCKOO.

A. O. U. No. 387 a. Coccyzus americanus occidentalis Ridgway.

Synonyms.—Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Rain-crow.

Description.—Adult: Above nearly uniform, satiny, brownish gray, with something of a bronzy-green sheen; the inner webs of the primaries cinnamon-rufous, the outer webs and sometimes the wing coverts tinged with the same; central pair of tail-feathers like the back and completely covering the others during repose; remaining pairs sharply graduated,—blackish with broad terminal white spaces, the outer pair white-edged; a bare space around the eye yellow; underparts uniform silky white or sordid; bill curved, upper mandible black, except touched with yellow on sides; lower mandible yellow, with black tip. Immature: Similar to adult, but plumage of back with slight admixture of cinnamon-rufous or vinaceous; tail-feathers narrower,—the contrast between their black and white areas less abrupt. Length 12.50-13.50 (317.5-342.9); wing 6.00 (152.4); tail 6.50 (165.1); bill 1.06 (26.9); depth of bill at base .38 (9.7).

Recognition Marks.—Robin to Kingfisher size; slim form and lithe appearance; brown above, white below; sharply-graduated, broadly white-tipped tail-feathers.

Nesting.—Nest: a careless structure of twigs, bark-strips, and catkins, placed in trees or bushes, usually at moderate heights. Eggs: 3 or 4, pale greenish blue, becoming lighter on continued exposure. Av. size, 1.31 × .94 (33.3 × 23.9). Season: June-August; one brood.

General Range.—Western temperate North America from northern Lower California north to southern British Columbia, east to New Mexico and western Texas, and south over tablelands of Mexico.

Range in Washington.—Rare summer resident, chiefly west of Cascades.

Authorities.—[“Yellow-billed cuckoo” Johnson, Rep. Gov. W. T., 1884 (1885), 22]. Lawrence, Auk, Vol. IX., No. 1. Jan. 1892, p. 44. T.(?) L¹. D¹. Ra. B. E.

Specimens.—(U. of. W.) Prov. E.

It is possible that these birds are really more numerous in Washington, west of the Cascades, than is generally supposed. They are, however, extremely shy and retiring in their habits, and very local in distribution. The latter characteristic is carried to such an extent that they may almost be said to colonize. For example, the only place they may be found with certainty, near Tacoma, is in a small area well within the city limits and surrounded by houses. In this small space four or five pairs may be found at any time during the summer.

Their harsh krow-krow-krow-krow, and the more plaintive kru-kru, kru-kru, is most often heard along the outskirts of some swamp encircled by a heavy growth of brush and small conifers mixed with deciduous trees. From the krow-krow note the birds have gained the name Rain Crow, popular superstition pointing out the fact that it usually rains soon afterward (an occurrence not at all unlikely to happen in western Washington, irrespective of the suggestion of the Cuckoo).

Their food consists entirely of caterpillars, spiders, and other insects, this being perhaps the only bird to make war extensively upon the tent-caterpillar. The poem, “He sucks little birds’ eggs to make his voice clear,” etc., applies only to the Cuckoo of Europe. Small birds, it is true, are very often seen in pursuit of a Cuckoo, but this must be purely on account of its close resemblance in form to that of their arch-enemy, the Sharp-shinned Hawk.

The nest is rather a frail structure, tho much more bulky than nests of the Black-billed or Yellow-billed Cuckoo. It is placed from four to ten feet from the ground, usually nearer ten, and is most often built against the trunk of a baby fir. The materials used consist of coarse dead twigs, heavily lined with coarse tree-moss and sprays of dead fir needles.