1892
July 7
(No 9)
Concord, Massachusetts.
History of Flicker's nest.
Mass.
Concord 
swallowing something which it had obtained
from the mouth of the young. After watching it
closely many times I finally came to the conclusion
that it was for the purpose of regaining small particles
of food which, failing to lodge in the throat of the 
young, were drawn out adhering to the parent's bill.
On one occasion I distinctly saw the old bird
which thus tasting drop or rub off something from the
tip of the bill and then bounding forward pick it
up from the top of the stump and swallow it.
The object thus dropped and recovered looked like
a large black ant.
  If interrupted during this process of [delete] violently [/delete] pumping
food down the throat of its offspring [delete] a young bird [/delete] as the parent
[delete]sometimes [/delete] occasionally was by some [delete] sudden movement [/delete] motion or noise which
I made the old bird would [delete] sometimes [/delete] often feed the same
youngster twice or even thrice in succession but this
never happened when the first period of contact
was of normal length.
  After resting and tasting for a moment the parent
would again bend forward and regard his offspring
attentively for a brief space apparently hesitating which
one to take next. The choice made the operation
just described would be exactly repeated. Four 
young were usually fed at each visit but sometimes
only three and once but one. When the number was less
than four I think the bird took some alarm and
starting off thought it not worth while to return. In 
no instance were more than four young fed. Whether
the fifth was served [delete][?][/delete] first or not at the next
visit I had no means of determining.