226 



Wild Birds 



a moment to reveal a picture of unusual interest. Under this 

 bird lay five blind, naked, long-necked, taper-bodied creatures, 

 heaving and swaying like a bed of writhing serpents, suggesting 

 the true relationship and origin of birds. 



Five days later the Flicker had recovered her sense of fear, 

 and was exceedingly wary in all her movements. The young 



. 



Fig. 138. The window open, showing the Flicker pumping food into a 

 nestling. 



were fed regularly by both parents at intervals of one half hour, 

 and by regurgitation, on a grayish paste which may have been 

 pulverized ants' "eggs," and suggested a cooked cereal of the 

 breakfast-food variety. One of the illustrations (Fig. 138) 

 shows this bird clinging to the wooden walls of the nest, head 

 downwards, and pumping this concentrated mixture into the 

 throat of an excited nestling. 



