FLICKER 129 



the suitors as they sidle up to her and as quickly 

 retreat again, the sly glances given as one peeps 

 from behind a limb watching the other — playing 

 bo-peep — seems very human. . . . The defeated 

 suitor takes his rejection quite philosophically, 

 and retreats in a dignified manner/' To this 

 Mr. Burroughs adds of the Flicker wooer : " He 

 spreads his tail, he puffs out his breast, he throws 

 back his head, and then bends his body to the right 

 and to the left, uttering all the while a curious 

 musical hiccough." Surely his lady should be 

 flattered by such adulation. 



When it comes to housekeeping, the Flicker 

 retires to an old stub or tree trunk, but his pro- 

 ceedings may be watched if he is convinced of 

 your good intentions. The sight of the large 

 entrance hole always stirs delightful anticipations, 

 for Monsieur '' Pique-bois-Jaune,' as he is called 

 in Louisiana, is a character worth studying. Mr. 

 Brewster has given us a most interesting descrip- 

 tion of a nest he watched,^ and Mr. Mauley Hardy, 

 who has also studied the birds familiarly,' tells us 

 that he has been permitted to feed the young with 

 strawberries while they were still in the nest I 

 He was obliged to put the berries in their bills at 

 first, but afterwards the nestlings would come up 

 to the hole and look out when they heard him 

 coming, acting, he flattered himself, 'just as if 

 the old birds were feeding them.' 



1 The Aulc, vol. x. pp. L'31-236. 



