WESTERN BIRDS Flicker 



Quite often the night brooding is done by the male, 

 the female roosting in one of the other boxes, but occa- 

 sionally the birds change places. 



Usually the eggs hatch in ten days after the laying of 

 the last one, although they have been known to hatch in 

 nine days, and again not until eleven or twelve days 

 have elapsed. 



Until the young are about eleven days old they lie in 

 a circle in the nest, their long necks stretched over each 

 other; then for nearly a week they press against the side 

 of the nest. When seventeen or eighteen days old, their 

 claws having acquired a needle-like sharpness, they 

 begin to cling to the walls of the nest, and when three 

 weeks old they are able to climb to the hole and there 

 receive the food from the parent. 



Before this baby Flickers have been most peaceable 

 little fellows but now, for the first time, they are giving 

 the adult pe-ap call and are showing decided pugilistic 

 tendencies toward each other. 



Some broods are more quarrelsome than others. 

 "Their battle-ground is in the vicinity of the hole. The 

 one in possession of this coveted spot maintains his 

 supremacy there by occasional withdrawals of his head 

 from the hole in order to deliver vigorous blows on the 

 heads of all within his reach, causing them to shrink 

 downward, or, in the case of the weaker ones, drop to 

 the nest below. When the hole is large enough for two 

 heads, a vigorous battle often ensues between the owners. 

 After all it is only the struggle for maintenance in which 

 all must share and we glory in the spirit of the little 

 Flickers." 



From soon after the young are hatched, until they are 

 two weeks old, they keep up a hissing sound. At first 

 it is very faint but grows stronger and stronger as the 

 nestlings grow, and is kept up day and night. The old 

 bird upon taking the nest "croons a lullaby" to these 



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