Cambridge, Mass.
1910.
Feb. 16 [February 16, 1910]
  Roland Thaxter told me this evening of watching
a Flicker picking out mortar from the vertical face
of the brick wall of the Museum of Comparative 
Zoology within a few feet of his window. I
understood him to say that this happened within
the past two or three days. He was so very near
the bird that he could see, without possibility of mistake,
that it ate small pieces of the mortar. I was very
sure that my bird was doing the same thing (on the
14th). It would be interesting to know whether the
mortar is eaten for the sake of the lime it
contains or as a substitute for gravel which may
be rather difficult to obtain now that the ground
is largely covered with snow.
Flicker
eating
mortar
at Mus.
Comp. Zool.