16 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



Characters and Dispositions II 



'The Owl and the Flicker 



A pair of Flickers made a hole in a dead tree close to our 

 house, and on June 20, 1920, the three young Flickers that were 

 raised there were banded. 



During the following winter the squirrels enlarged the 

 hole and filled it with leaves. 



The next spring a pair of Flickers came to the same hole and 

 scolded for a while, then started a new hole about five feet lower 

 down the tree. By making a folding perch just below the hole, 

 they were trapped and banded as a mated pair, and on June 2, 

 1921 their four young were also banded. 



In 1922 the Flickers came there about the middle of April 

 and scolded as before, but finally started a new hole a little to 

 one side of the tree, and about equal distance from each of the 

 old holes. 



On May 2nd a Blue Jay was observed making considerable 

 fuss about the lower hole, which aroused suspicions, and with 

 the aid of a ladder we reached the hole, and found a Screech Owl 

 there. On removal we discovered she was sitting on five eggs 

 which were all pipped ready to hatch, but fearing she would in- 

 terfere with our Flicker family, we robbed the nest, banded the 

 Owl and took her quite a distance from the tree before releas- 

 ing her. 



We had to be absent from home for about four weeks, and 

 soon after our return we were ready to band the Flickers. We 

 had observed that the old female wore a band but could not 

 capture her to get the number, but the male kept his legs so 

 well covered we were unable to see if he was banded. 



On June 11th we started to band the young Flickers. Before 

 we got our ladder, we watched the old Flickers feeding the 

 young, and observed that the young were so old that the old 

 birds did not enter the nest, just going to the hole and calling 

 the young up for food, so there was no chance of capturing the 

 old birds to see their numbers, so we climbed the ladder, and 

 as we passed the lower hole, noticed four owl eggs of a second 

 setting, were in the hole, but all broken. 



It was necessary to saw out a piece of the tree to get our 

 hand into the hole, and as we opened the hole, out came an owl. 

 We were surprised and annoyed, and took out the four young 

 Flickers and examined them very carefully, but they were not 

 harmed in any way, so they were banded and replaced in the 

 nest. 



Our curiosity was aroused about the owl. The next morn- 

 ing, the 12th, we watched the old Flickers feeding same as ever, 

 but finally decided to see if the owl was around. On reaching 

 in the hole there was the owl, and we promptly threw her out. 

 On examining the young Flickers, found they were unharmed. 



