THAYER] HOURS WITH THE FLICKERS 2,U 



it at 4.12. At 4.16 she returned, and flew again at 4.17. There 

 seemed to be no feeding either time, as the first time there was 

 only a faint sound from the young, and five minutes later there 

 was none at all, very much unlike the usual buzz-saw performance 

 The nest was cleaned both times. At 4.35 the male came to a 

 pile of stones over the wall, and called "kee-yer" three times 

 slowly, then gave the "wick" cry as he flew about to different 

 places in the orchard until 4.55 when both he and the female 

 came to the home tree. The male went in, stayed one-half 

 minute, then the female went in at 4.57 and remained a moment. 

 At 5 o'clock, the female returned to the nest again for one 

 minute. 



July 8 (continued), 7.15 p. M.-8.05 p. m. — As I was disap- 

 pointed in not finding out what time her ladyship, the flicker, 

 arose in the morning, I determined to find out what time she 

 retired, but again I was to be disappointed. At 7.25 I left my 

 seat and went to the nest to be sure that the female was not 

 within, when I heard a cry of alarm from a neighboring tree. 

 Evidently I had been watched. It was too dark to distinguish 

 male from female, but the bird flew from tree to tree until 7.39, 

 when it disappeared. I remained until the orchard was dark, 

 and the moon had risen, but no bird went to the nest. I won- 

 dered if it were possible that the mother bird did not brood her 

 young on warm nights. There was no breeze, and it would have 

 been insufferably hot for an adult bird to remain in that deep 

 hole with several young. 



July 9, 10. 45-1 1.30 A. M. — The young are growing fast, for 

 when the female came just as I sat down, she fed them without 

 going in. They are beginning to climb. iShe flew away at 10.48. 

 At 10.50, the male came to the next tree, and twelve minutes 

 later, to the opening, where he fed the young. 



July 9 (continued), 5.30-5.50 p. m. — Many times, I had tried 

 to reach down into the nest to the young birds but could not. 

 This afternoon a friend suggested making the opening larger, 

 which was done, and I took out the young. There were five, all 

 males, nearly two-thirds as large as the old birds, but only 

 partially covered with feathers. There were the beginnings of 

 the red and the black crescents, the black stripes on the sides of 

 the throats, indicating the male, the white rumps, and spotted 

 feathers. The breasts were nearly bare. Each upper mandible 



