40 THE BABES IN THE WOOD. 



before one flicker baby was satisfied. After the 

 nestlings came up to the door, the parents went 

 no more inside, as a rule, and housekeeping took 

 care of itself. 



On the fifteenth day of his life, as said above, 

 the eldest scion of the golden -wing family made 

 his appearance at the portal of his home. The 

 sight and the sound of him came together, for he 

 burst out at once *with a cry. It was not very 

 loud, but it meant something, and the practice 

 of a day or two gave it all the strength that was 

 desirable. In fact, it became clamorous to a 

 degree that made further attempts at conceal- 

 ment useless, and no one was quicker to recog- 

 nize it than the parents. The baby cry was the 

 utterance familiar from the grown-up birds as 

 "wick-a! wick-a ! wick-a!" From this day, 

 when one of the elders drew near the tree, it was 

 met at the opening by an eager little face and a 

 begging call; but it was several days before the 

 recluse showed interest in anything except the 

 food supply. Meals were now nearly an hour 

 apart, and the moment one was over the well-fed 

 youngster in the tree fell back out of sight, prob- 

 ably to sleep, after the fashion of babies the 

 world over. But all this soon came to an end. 

 The young flicker began to linger a few minutes 

 after he had been fed, and to thrust his beak 

 out in a tentative way, as if wondering what the 

 big out-of-doors was like, any way. 



