PICUS THE FLICKER 173 



I remember very well on the old farm it was always a 

 race between the chimney swift and the woodpecker on 

 the comb of the house to see who would have the honor of 

 wakening the family. I have known a woodpecker to find 

 a weather board that was loose enough to rattle well and 

 peck on it until he had pecked a hole through the side of 

 the house. At one time the tin that fitted around our 

 chimney became loose on one side. A red-headed wood- 

 pecker discovered this and for several days he was in the 

 greatest glee. Father put a ladder against the side of the 

 house, gave me a hammer and some nails, and sent me to 

 the roof to nail this tin down tightly. The next morning 

 Mr. Eedhead was much chagrined when he brought his 

 wife to listen to his wonderful musical powers^ only to dis- 

 cover that his drum would not work. He tried it a few 

 times and then flew away in disgust and thereafter did 

 his drumming on the barn. 



As a boy it was always a mystery to me how such birds as 

 flickers managed to get their young out of their hole. 

 The hole where Picus lived faced directly toward our 

 front porch, and my field glasses made it appear only a few 

 feet away. When the young birds were nearly grown they 

 began to get restless and made a good deal of noise when- 

 ever the parents came to the nest hole. Soon I began to 

 notice an occasional head peeping out of the hole, looking 

 at the great world outside. In a day or two the young 

 birds did not hesitate to sit in the hole, and finally to creep 

 outside clinging to the limb with their claws and bracing 

 themselves with their tails. Evidently the young begin 

 using their claws to crawl about in the nest hole and so 

 soon as the tail feathers are well grown are able to crawl 

 about on the outside. If you will notice a woodpecker 



