15(; The Wilson Bulletin, No. 72-73. 



tion. Another illustration similar to this is the careful inspec- 

 tion of the hole before entering it at night, a Screech Owl or 

 other enemy might be lurking there, and experiences through 

 millions of generations, have created an instinct of caution 

 akin to that racial instinct that leads human beings to search 

 for the hidden enemy, the man under the bed. 



It has already been mentioned that this year the male Flicker 

 covered the eggs every night ; he also staid with the young 

 every night until they were three weeks old. brooding all of 

 them imtil nearly two weeks of age, when they began pressing 

 their breasts against the side of the nest, and he could cover 

 the tails of two or three only, after which for two or three 

 nights he sat upon the bottom of the nest apart from the young ; 

 then for four nights he hung upon the wall of the nest near the 

 hole ; thereafter he staid with them no more. The date of this 

 desertion is coincident with the fledgelings' attainment of the 

 entrance hole, which is the time the parents begin to fail to keep 

 the nest perfectly clean. The parents fed so late in the even- 

 ing that it was often impossible to identify the brooding bird 

 without the aid of a flash-light lantern ; this did not disturb 

 him and he sometimes slumbered on regardless of it. 



Pronounced individual characteristics could be recognized 

 in the fledg'elings ; Blackfoot and Whitefoot were over-bear- 

 ing little gluttons ; Pink was the pert one of the brood ; Blue 

 was a spunky little creature, the hardest biter of all ; Redfoot 

 was timid and demure, perhaps the early ordeal of cold and 

 hunger had a sobering effect on it. As models for drawing 

 or painting the little Flickers are the best posers of any spe- 

 cies I have tried. They have posed for their pictures from 

 one to two hours on occasions when there has been scarcely a 

 movement other than the winking of their eyes. 



As the eggs hatched in the order in which they were laid, 

 so the fledgelings went forth in the order in which they were 

 hatched ; Blackfoot early in the morning of their twenty- 

 sixth da}-, Whitefoot and Pink late that afternoon. The next 

 day the father brought at least one meal to Blue and Red- 



