. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. Phut J bj A. 1^. Princthoni A PAIR OF FLICKERS, OR YHLLO\V-I[ AilMKRS, IX THEIR HOilE ( SEi; PAGE 69O) ^ The haliits, notes, and colors of this \vell-kno\vn bird are reflected in the popular names which have been applied to it throughout its wide range. No less than 36 of these aliases have been recorded. The flicker is a bird of character. Although a woodpecker, he is too original to follow in the footsteps of others of his tribe. They do not frequent the ground, but that IS no reason why he should not humor his own terrestria
. [Articles about birds from National geographic magazine]. Birds. Phut J bj A. 1^. Princthoni A PAIR OF FLICKERS, OR YHLLO\V-I[ AilMKRS, IX THEIR HOilE ( SEi; PAGE 69O) ^ The haliits, notes, and colors of this \vell-kno\vn bird are reflected in the popular names which have been applied to it throughout its wide range. No less than 36 of these aliases have been recorded. The flicker is a bird of character. Although a woodpecker, he is too original to follow in the footsteps of others of his tribe. They do not frequent the ground, but that IS no reason why he should not humor his own terrestrial pro])ensities, and we mav therefore frequently flush him from the earth, when, with a low chuckle, he gties bounding off through the air, his white rump showing conspicuously as he flics. With eacli other, and with such widely different forms as humming-birds, wood- peckers, parrots, and others, we would reaUze still more clearly the remarkable amount of variation shown by birds. This great dift'erence in form is accompanied by a corresponding variation in habit, making possible, as before remarked, the wide distribution of birds, which, to- gether with their size and abundance, renders them of incalculable importance to man. Their economic value, however, may be more proi:ierly spoken of under— TI-IE OF BIRDS TO MAN The relation of birds to man is three- fold—the scientific, the economic, and the jesthetic. Xo animals form more profitable subjects for the scientist than birds. The embryologist, the morpholo- gist and the systematist, the philosophic naturalist, and the psychologist all may find in them exhaustless material for stud}-. It is not my purpose, however, to speak here of the science of ornithol- ogy. Let us learn something of the bird in its haunts before taking it to the labo- ratory. The li\-ing bird cannot fail to attract us; the dead bird—v(jiceless, mo- —we will leave for future dis- section. The economic value of birds to man lies
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