274 BULLETIN 174, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Some of her observations on the young follow : 



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. At seventeen or eighteen days of age, their claws 

 having acquired a needlelike sharpness, they begin to cling to the wall of the 

 nest, and when three weeks old they are able to climb to the hole and be fed 

 while the parent hangs outside. 



Although the eyes of the nestlings are not open until they are ten days old 

 yet these organs are by no means dormant. An easy proof of this is made by 

 placing the hand noiselessly over the entrance hole when tliey are no more 

 than three or four days old, and are lying apparently asleep; up comes every 

 head and they beg for food, getting none they soon sleep, when the experiment 

 may be repeated, gaining from the young the same response that is given 

 when a parent darkens the hole. 



That cry of the young which is so often described as a hissing sound, begins 

 very soon after they are hatched. At first exceedingly faint it soon grows 

 stronger, and is uttered day and night for two weeks. A parent upon taking 

 its place to brood these wailing nestlings begins to croon a lullaby and con- 

 tinues this musical murmur until it falls asleep, which is often quite soon. It 

 has no effect in lessening the noise of the youngsters, yet the parent faithfully 

 renders its cradle song until the young cease to make this noise which is about 

 the time they begin to show fear. Of other cries that they make, there is 

 the chuckling noise uttered w^hen the little one is in the act of seizing the 

 food-bearing bill, and there is a cry that sounds like a whine. Still another 

 one is a note of alarm given when the young are disturbed by some such thing 

 as the opening of the trap door. This uttered in unison has a very theatrical 

 effect strongly suggesting the chorus of the stage. After they have commenced 

 to move about freely in the nest they make much of the time a pleasant 

 sound like a chatter or quack, as if talking to each other. And lastly comes 

 the grown-up Flicker "pe-ap", which they begin to call as soon as they climb 

 to the hole. * * * 



Some broods are much more quarrelsome than others. Their battle ground 

 is in the vicinity of the hole. The one in possession of the hole 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. This is the 

 case with the stronger ones, the weaker ones frequently are driven from the 

 vantage place. When the hole is large enough for two to thrust out their 

 heads together, they draw within after the serving of a meal and fight furi- 

 ously, while a waiting third may slip up and gain the coveted hole. But all 

 their fighting days seem to be confined to a few in the fourth week of their lives. 



* * * In very early life a meal is served to baby Flicker with many in- 

 sertions of the parent's bill, as many as thirty-four have been counted, but 

 from eight to twenty are the ordinary number, decreasing to three or four 

 before the young leave the nost. A record made during a continuous watch of 

 six hours and thirty-two minutes shows that each parent fed five times ; that 

 the father delivered his supply with eighty-two insertions of the bill, while 

 the mother used but forty-one. Probably the father brought more food since 

 on every count he proved himself the more devoted parent. In grasping the 

 bill the point of the youngster's bill is at right angles with that of the parent's, 

 thus the opening between the food-bearing mandibles is covered after the 

 young have attained a few days of age, and any over-dropping of food is 

 prevented. This accident frequently happens in the early days of the nest, 

 then the mussed up ants that fall are carefully picked up by the frugal parent 

 when the feeding is over. * * * 



