Migration Records op^ Kansas Birds 139 



A nest-full of half grown Flickers is indeed an inter- 

 esting, if noisy, crowd of youngsters. I can recall to mind 

 no other bird voice that sounds more like the hissing of a 

 large snake. It is doubtful, however, whether this sound 

 is produced by the young birds in order to frighten their 

 enemies; indeed my observations convince me that this is 

 not the motive that prompts the uttering of this peculiar 

 note, since it is not only given when the young are dis- 

 turbed by a person, but is uttered whenever the parents 

 return to the nest with food. The young remain in the 

 nest about sixteen days, at the end of which period the 

 five or six full grown birds fill the nesting hole to over- 

 flowing. They are very ravenous, requiring a great 

 amount of food daily, both parents working unceasingly 

 during the daylight hours to supply the demand for sus- 

 tenance. During the first feAV days of life out of the nest 

 the young remain entirely upon the ground, feeding largely 

 upon aiits. They soon become strong upon the wing, how- 

 ever, and as winter approaches, they, together with the 

 parents, can be observed high up among the branches of 

 berry-bearing trees, feeding upon the fruit. In this lati- 

 tude insects do not entirely disapi)ear in winter, but the 

 Flicker's diet is chiefly vegetable during that season. 



BEVIEW OF '^ MIGRATION RECORDS FOR 

 KANSAS BIRDS": 



(Wilson Bull., 1018, Dec. 1919, March and June.) 



I have read and re-read the series of articles bearing 

 the above title: published by the instructress in Zoology of 

 the Kansas State University. Having resided in north- 

 eastern Kansas for fifteen years, I am naturally much in- 

 terested in the ornis of the entire state. Many of the rec- 

 ords in the article cited above, being so greatly variant 

 from the results of my own observations and records, and 

 some of them so manifestly misleading, I feel that one 

 should, in tlie interests of exact ornithological records, 



