295 



THE WOOD-HEWERS. 



Flicker or GoLDEN-wrNGED Woodpecker. 



All woodpeckers may be classed as carpenters ; they all 

 build their homes in the trunks or branches of trees. Usu- 

 ally decayed limbs are chosen but sometimes the larger and 

 stronger species bore into the living wood. The entrances 

 or doors, to these homes are made circular, and just large 

 ■enough to allow the birds body to slip through. The cavity 

 within is larger and varies in depth from six inches, which 

 is large enougli for the little black and white Downy, to a 

 foot for the Flicker and two feet or more for larger wood- 

 peckers like the Pileated. 



Just as different human beings differ in temperament, so 

 ■do birds. Some are very cautious especially in all their 

 acts about their homes while others are "happy-go-lucky" 

 and give no thought to danger. A pair of Flickers, that 

 decided to make their home in a large chestnut tree, were 

 of this latter class. 



One morning I heard a steady, muffled chopping as I was 

 walking along the edge of the woods. Following the sound, 

 brought me to the foot of this tree. Although it was evi- 

 dent that the bird was pounding away on the inside, it 

 would have been difficult to have located the nest but for the 

 fact that on one side of the tree, the ground was conspic- 

 uously covered with chips. Looking upwards from this 

 «pot I could see about two inches of the tail of a busy 

 Flicker, protruding from a hole about twenty feet up. Soon 

 she stopped hammering, backed out and more chips came 

 fluttering down. 



Both Flickers worked on this excavating for about a week 

 before the chamber was large enough to suit them; they 

 both had the same careless habit of simply dropping the 

 chips from the opening. It was an advertisement notifying 

 beast, bird or man that above was the nest of some wood- 

 peckers. Of course these tell-tale chips maj' have had noth- 



