by four-fifths of an inch in width. The 

 young leave the nest in about sixteen 

 days. They present a rather queer sight 

 as they sit perched on a branch of the 

 tree near the nest. They remind us of 

 the small boy who is afraid of the water 

 and who remains on the shore while his 

 older companions enjoy a good swim. 

 The young are said to remain in this 

 position for several days before attempt- 

 ing flight. The Flickers raise but one 

 brood in a season. 



As regards its food, the Flicker may 

 be considered one of the most beneficial 

 of birds. Investigations carried on by 

 the United States Department of Agri- 

 culture showed the contents of the 

 stomachs of this species to contain fifty- 

 six per cent of animal matter, thirty- 

 nine per cent of vegetable matter and 

 five per cent of mineral matter. Of the 

 animal food, about forty-three per cent 

 consists of ants. The Flickers seem to 

 eat almost all kinds of insects, as repre- 

 sentatives of the following orders have 

 been found in their stomachs : Ants, 

 Mayflies, caterpillars, bugs, beetles, and 

 grasshoppers and crickets. Spiders and 

 myriapods are also eaten. The contents 



of one stomach was made up of more 

 than three thousand small ants. The veg- 

 etable food of the Flickers is interesting. 

 The seeds and fruits of about forty dif- 

 ferent species of plants have been identi- 

 fied from stomach contents, among which 

 are corn, buckwheat, dogwood berries, 

 blueberries, huckleberries, elderberries, 

 cherries, juniper berries, clover seed, 

 acorns and poison ivy seeds. That these 

 Woodpeckers are not harmful to the corn 

 crop is proven by the fact that out of 

 ninety-eight stomachs examined in Sep- 

 tember and O'ctober only four contained 

 corn at all, and this only in very small 

 quantities. At times, the Flickers invade 

 the orchard and eat cherries, peaches, 

 grapes and plums but this they do only to 

 a very limited extent. 



In certain parts of the country the 

 Flickers are ruthlessly slaughtered by so- 

 called sportsmen, who find it an easy 

 bird to bag. It is often seen in the 

 market of eastern cities where it is 

 known as Pigeon Woodpecker. For this 

 reason it is more shy than many of the 

 other woodpeckers, and seeks to avoid its 

 greatest enemy, man. 



Collins Thurber. . 



"MISS POLLY WALKER.' 



A bundle of green and gold and 

 crimson feathers, two sharp bright 

 eyes, a smooth white bill, a pair of gray 

 feet and a sweet voice and you have 

 the picture of Miss Polly Walker in 

 your mind's eye. 



An amazingly smart bird is this Mex- 

 ican double yellow-headed parrot who, 

 when she was purchased, could not crack 

 hemp seed and co'uld only say 'Tolly." 

 But now this clever bird, who gave her- 

 self the nickname as above, can get into 

 the inside of very hard nuts and can talk, 

 sing and do many comical things that her 

 mistress has taught her. 



Mother Goose rhymes arc her favor- 

 ites. She sings all the four lines of 

 "Chick-a-me, chick-a-mc, crany crow" 

 and all but the last line of "J^c^'^ ^.nd 



Jill." She doesn't know the last line 

 but she makes it up so as to end the 

 verse. Polly can sing, "Coon, coon, 

 coon, I wish my color would fade," but 

 she is not satisfied for sometimes she 

 wishes it was blue and sometimes pur- 

 ple. She caUs the cat wonderfully, 

 crows, barks, whistles and imitates 

 every kind of noise. She has been 

 taught not to scream, as many parrots 

 do, and therefore her presence is not 

 disagreeable to the household. She 

 only knows two naughty words, and 

 has a remarkable way of distinguishing 

 ministers, so always to express her 

 feelings before them. 



When other parrots are brought to 

 see her and she gets tired of their com- 

 pany, she tells them to ''shut up; you 



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