MATING. 



Immediately after the arrival of a sufficient number of local 

 birds, (the females appearing last), and the advent of milder 

 days, courtship commences and continues with increasing vigor 

 for two or three weeks. It is elaborate and ceremonious, often 

 bordering the amusing and ridiculous. The male alights close 

 to the female, often choosing a rather slender and leafless hor- 

 izontal branch as best suited to an unobstructed view of his 

 graceful form and gay plumage. The female assumes indiffer- 

 ence or the silence, dignity and alertness of a critic, while the 

 male bowdng, hopping, prancing, dancing, strutting, flirting his 

 wings, pleads and urges his suit with flickering, wacuping and 

 hickcuping notes ; finally he sidles up to her, .she coyly .sidles 

 away, and perhaps takes wing, followed by the one or more suit- 

 ers to another tree, where the whole performance is repeated. 

 There are sometimes from two to five males, between whom 

 sharp but apparently harmless encounters occasionall}^ take 

 place while in the air, determining, as one correspondent .sug- 

 gests, which one .shall next offer his attentions. In due time 

 the female shows her preference, and not infrequently joins in 

 with the bowing and singing of her accepted lover, and if the 

 rejected suitors have not already left in pursuit of some other 

 unmated female, the pair unite in driving them from the 

 premises. As Audubon has .stated that the Flicker never 

 fights, it is befitting that we insert some of the testimony at 

 hand : I have not observ^ed the males fighting among them- 

 .selves for possession of the females, but they display a good 

 deal of friendly rivalry in their efforts to display their good 

 points and in paying attention to the desired females. — Angus 

 Gaines. It is only when approaching the female that the male 

 gives utterance to the familiar and highly sentimental chuck-a- 

 chuck-a-chuck, etc. , all the while sidling up to her as she sidles 

 away. I have seen the pair make the circuit of a tree several 

 times. It is rare that a rival male molests the actor until the 



