THE NIDIOLOGIST 



double back on him. I do not remember ever 

 having heard their notes. Although a land 

 bird and not web-footed, their habits are greatly 

 aquatic, as they will dive under the water and 

 shuffle along with their wings and legs, and 

 re-appear above the water at a considerable dis- 

 tance ahead in a remarkably short space of 

 time. 



Their geographical range is, on the Pacific 

 Slope, from Alaska to Guatemala. 



I). A. Cohen. 



Alameda, Cal. 



Feeding Habits of Flickers. 



Ox July 8, 1894, while visiting in an ad- 

 joining county, I had an ojjportunity to 

 observe the Flicker's method of feed- 

 ing its young, in confirmation of the notes of 

 \\'illiam Brewster in The Auk for July, 1893. 



So far as I could judge, there were only two 

 young. They were nearly grown, and evidently 

 a male and a female. When I first observed 

 them, the male was occupying the opening, 

 screaming out the usual skee-u at regular inter- 

 vals, but upon the approach of a parent the 

 mowing-machine-like clatter was at once set up. 

 During half an hour's watching, at about 8 a. m., 

 this male never left the opening, and was fed 

 three or four times, sometimes by one parent 

 and sometimes by the other. When I returned 

 from a drive at 11 a. m., both birds (or two at 

 least) thrust their heads out at the coming of 

 the parent. The male was fed at first, and 

 after a few parental visits he disappeared and 

 a female head was constantly in sight. At the 

 return of each parent after this only the female 

 head was thrust clamoringly forth, and no noise 

 came at all from the depth of the cavity. On 

 some occasions the old birds made several re- 

 peated attempts at regurgitation, and again only 

 one attempt was made. Once, after a pro- 

 longed pumping spell, the little female seemed 

 filled to the brim, and my friend expressed 

 alarm lest she should choke. From 1 1 to i 

 o'clock she held the door, and so constant had 

 been this jjractice of only one young being visi- 

 ble that my friend (who, though not an Ornithol- 

 ogist, had watched the feeding methods from 

 the beginning) thought that there was only 

 one young bird, and only at one feeding out of 

 |jerhaps eight or a dozen did I see a second 

 nestling. It is just possible that the usual com- 

 jjlement of young may have been within the 

 nest, and each one sat at the door till it was 

 filled. 



I could ob.serve no difference in the methods 

 of the two parents in feeding, except that the 

 male was gone usually the longer away and ap- 



peared to deliver more when pumping. He also 

 took a route away that indicated a wider range. 

 Twice I saw the mother fly directly down to a 

 leaky hydrant and drink heartily and fly direct- 

 ly up to the nest. The first time our eager scru- 

 tiny seemed to disconcert her. She went away, 

 and returned later with what appeared to be 

 " the usual thing." At the other time she was 

 scared away by some one walking past, and, as 

 my train was due, I had no further opportunity 

 of observing. I could not resist the impression 

 that she wished to give them water as she did 

 food, and I was anxious to see if the process 

 seemed as labored as the other. The nest was 

 about twenty feet up, and I sat fifteen feet away 

 from the root of the tree. 



Directly over me, about twenty-five feet up, 

 was a family of Redheads, who were as busy 

 feeding their young. I never saw the nestlings, 

 but they were apparently younger than the 

 Flickers. My friend informed me that on the 

 day before, which was quite cool, one parent 

 was always in the nest, remaining till the 

 other indicated by a peculiar call its arrival 

 from food-hunting. 



The occupant came out and went away in 

 evident search, and the other went in with its 

 morsel in its mouth and remained till called, 

 and so on through such portions of the day as 

 he noted. But from 1 1 to i on the 8th it was 

 quite warm, and both parents were abroad 

 searching while I observed them. Sometimes 

 one entered the cavity and was out of sight 

 some seconds — at times a minute or so — but 

 usually the tail of the parent was visible, and 

 the bird simply backed out at once. There was 

 then usually a tremor of the tail not unlike that 

 (mentioned by Mr. Brewster) when the Flicker 

 is pumping home the dinner of his nestling ; 

 but I took this to be simply an effort on the 

 part of the Redhead to put the morsel well down 

 the nestling's throat. There may have been 

 some regurgitation, but /// every case the parent 

 entered with a visible morsel in the beak. I could 

 not see what this was, but one parent had the 

 habit of alighting on a horizontal limb near and 

 pounding vigorously its "find" before entering 

 the nest. The other parent flew almost directly 

 in. I suspect that these variant methods were 

 due to the nature of the food. In both this 

 case and that of the Flickers it was evident that 

 each jjarent had its own feeding or hunting 

 ground, there being no concerted action after 

 leaving the nest. They usually went in nearly 

 opi^osite directions after a little loitering. 



I noticed on the part of the young female 

 Flicker an action which I could not determine 

 whether it was ])lay or impatience. After the 

 ])arent had fed her, it was still sitting beneath 

 the hole regarding us and |)aying no attention 



