FLICKER. 439 
they commence to pair and build ; for this purpose they often 
make choice of the trunk of a decayed apple or forest tree, at 
different heights from the ground. When an accidental cavity 
is not conveniently found, confident in the formidable means 
provided them by nature, with no other aid than the bill, they 
have been known to make a winding burrow through a solid 
oak for 15 inches in length. At this labor, for greater secu- 
rity and privacy, they continue till late in the evening, and 
may be heard dealing blows as loud and successive as if aided 
by the tools of the carpenter. My friend Mr. Gambel ob- 
served the present spring (1840) a burrow of this kind in 
Cambridge, excavated out of the living trunk of a sassafras 
about 15 feet from the ground. It was about 8 inches in 
diameter and 18 inches deep, dug with a shelving inclination ; 
and was continued at intervals for more than 4 weeks before 
it was completed. The eggs, about 6, and pure white, are 
deposited merely upon the fragments of wood which line the 
natural or artificial cavity thus forming the nest. This cell, 
before the young are fledged, acquires a rank and disagreeable 
smell; and on inserting the hand into it, the brood unite in 
producing a hissing, like so many hidden snakes. They at 
length escape from this fetid den in which they are hatched ; 
and climbing sometimes into the higher branches of the tree, 
are there fed until able to fly. At other times the young cling 
to their protecting cell with great pertinacity, so that the 
female will often call upon them for hours together (gueah 
gueah), trying every art to induce them to quit their cradle, 
punishing them by fasting, till at length they are forced to 
come out and answer to her incessant plaint. If not disturbed,. 
they will occasionally approach the farm-house; and I have 
known a pair, like the Bluebirds, repair to the same hole in a 
poplar-tree for several years in succession, merely cleaning out 
the old bed for the reception of their eggs and young. They 
incubate by turns, feeding each other while thus confined to 
the nest, and are both likewise equally solicitous in feeding 
and protecting their young ; the food on this occasion is raised 
often from the throat, where it has undergone a preparatory 
