136 Bird - Lore 
possible way. He remained here until October 25, when, after spending 
Sunday and the night in the house, he winged his way southward, leaving 
a lonely feeling and the hope to see him again in the spring. 
Among the other bird orphans brought to me by children, were two Flickers. 
They were most beautiful but I was at a loss to know how to raise them. 
I could not put them in a cage, so I set up dead limbs of trees in an empty 
room and found this worked to perfection. To find the right kind of food 
was another puzzle, but at last I found bananas to be the thing; in fact 
A YOUNG GRACKLE 
one of them was raised entirely on bananas, while the other would eat boiled 
veal, strawberries, cherries, and boiled green peas. The intelligence of these 
little creatures was wonderful. They soon learned to know my step, and would 
call loudly when they heard me come up the stairs, and the moment I opened 
the door one would be on my head or shoulder. Often in the night, I was 
awakened by their talking in their sleep, this I never observed in any other 
bird. When they learned to eat from a dish, I would set the food on the floor 
and leave the door ajar, to peep in to see the two little ones eat, and hear | 
them talk to each other as if they were pleased with their bill-of-fare. 
A little Bank Swallow ought also to be mentioned. A boy brought one to me 
when it was so small that I could not see it’s bill without glasses, and it seemed 
almost impossible to force it open and feed it; but the little thing was so bright 
and cheerful that it was worth any amount of trouble to raise it. I had made 
arrangements to go to the Catskills three days after it was brought to me, 
and took it with me, feeding it on the train and boat. As it grew older, I 
found the diet of bread, milk and eggs would do no longer so engaged 
children to help catch flies. In one afternoon my tiny Swallow consumed 
eighty-five large flies, which shows what a large number of insects they destroy. 
