A QUARTET OF WOODLAND DRUMMERS 205 



slightly curved bill and sent forth a call such as only a 

 flicker can give. His manner was majestic, as though con- 

 scious of the fact that he wore a coat of more varied colors 

 than that of any other woodpecker in the whole country. 



There was a long black spot on each side of his face, 

 such as men call burnsides. 



Soon the lady bird came and perched near her mate. 

 Though she had no burnsides, she had a strip of red 

 across the back of her head, as though it was her hood 

 which had almost slipped off backwards. How oddly 

 Mr. Flicker acted when she arrived ! What strange antics 

 he at once began to perform! He bowed low to his mis- 

 tress, and spread his pretty yellow wings like a cloak, as 

 he swept now forward, now backward. He stepped side- 

 wise and danced gracefully back again. He bobbed, he 

 bowed, he displayed his every charm. A brave wooer was 

 he as he laughingly, pleadingly, coaxingly called to her in 

 his mellowest and most enticing voice. He said many 

 things I could not understand, but ^^Yu'ch, yu'ch/^ was 

 what he seemed most to say. The flicker is a devoted and 

 demonstrative lover, and he pays homage to his loved one 

 at home or afield wherever he meets her. 



Another day I came to watch the young birds get their 

 dinners. Of this I could learn but little, for when an old 

 one would come home nothing could be seen in its bill, and 



