THE BIRD OF MANY NAMES 
spent the night on top of the trunk. Those 
babies were fed each hour, with clocklike 
regularity, according to the latest ideas as to 
bringing up a family. 
Whether there were more than three in 
the nest at that time or not, only three heads 
were visible at each feeding, and when, a 
week later, I watched them fly, there were 
but three. There had been six up to the 
time they were a week old, but the others 
may have made their debut unknown to me. 
These three we persuaded to come out a 
little earlier than they had planned, and pose 
for us on the trunk of the tree. It was their 
first view of life, and they were somewhat 
amazed. This time the parents remained 
near, and called with their peculiar shrill cry 
of anger. As soon as we left they were be- 
side the little ones, feeding them as before. 
A young flicker’s first flight is particularly 
strong, and one of these covered a distance 
of one hundred feet before alighting. They 
followed the parents closely for at least two 
weeks, and, so far as I could discover, were 
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