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 {ijueah 

 queaK), 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 



