Sherman — Sign of Northern Flicker. 149 



I 

 nest. In 1909 the eggs, when fresh, weighed from 106 to 111 

 grains, and the same eggs just before they were hatched 

 weighed from 91 to 96 grain's. The young birds freed from 

 the shells weighed from 83 to 85 grains. The hour for hatch- 

 ing was reckoned from the time an egg burst open ; the rest 

 of the act of exclusion from the shell took place either in my 

 hand or in the weighing bag, hence there was no chance for the 

 nestling to receive food before the first weighing. The first 

 little Flicker was not fed until it was two hours and twenty- 

 two minutes old, then the mother inserting her bill very, very 

 gently fed it until its weight had increased three grains. 



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

 insertions 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 nest. 

 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 supi)ly 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 af- 

 ter the young have attained a few days of age, and any over- 

 dropping of food is prevented. This accident frequently hap- 

 pens in the early days of the nest, then the mussed up ants that 

 fall are carefully picked up by the frugal parent when the feed- 

 ing is over. 



Those persons, who have watched and weighed birds from 

 the hour of their hatching, realize what an advantage is held by 

 the first-born. The fe\\' meals it receives in advance of the 

 others give it a start that makes it stronger, its neck longer, 

 and its mouth wider, so that it easily holds the lead in the race 

 for food. This great advantage may be seen by comparing 

 the daily gain of the oldest Flicker with that made by the oth- 

 ers in the record for 1908, which is of nest life normal in all 

 respects. 



