BIRD PARADISE 59 



had been in full practice every day. I notice 

 that the class of birds that have simply the call 

 note keep that practically unchanged throughout 

 the year. 



Every morning I have as a most interesting 

 guest a large and uncommonly intelligent flicker. 

 He sounds his note once or twice from a distance, 

 then swings along to the orchard, making his 

 best bow from the large tree at the garden gate. I 

 give him most cordial greeting and wish I had 

 command of the flicker tongue. But what is 

 command ? I certainly know some good things 

 that he speaks. They come to me freighted with 

 a friendliness that I can understand and do 

 greatly enjoy. The large table of my lawn is 

 always spread and flicker — like the other birds — 

 sits right down to his morning meal without 

 waiting for any special invitation. I notice that 

 his manner of taking his meals is all his own. 

 He puts his long bill right through the table 

 spread, down into the soft mold an inch or 

 more. Just what he gets or just how it is cooked 

 I have no means of knowing. That he smacks 

 his lips over the delicate morsels I can attest ; 

 also that his appetite is always first-class. One 



