Peculiar 
behavior of 
Flicker 
which the eye penetrated easily in every direction. At 
length I discovered the bird crouched in a last year's 
nest where it kept moving around very slowly, singing 
steadily a,nd loudly all the while. I did not see its mate.^, 
Found a Flicker at work excavating a hole in an 
apple-tree in Bensen’s orchard. I was passing the tree 
within six feet when I heard a low tapping, accompanied 
by a continuous muffled whining sound. Turning, I at once 
saw the bird's tail projecting from the hole, which was not 
over 5 feet above the ground. For a minute or more the 
pecking and whining continued uninterruptedly, the tail 
wriggling violently the while. Evidently the bird had 
Ckuvt.UjL' in the hole to just that point where she had less 
room to work than she had had before or would have after¬ 
wards. In other words, she had just about reached the 
point where the entrance hole must begin to be expanded 
into a chamber and to turn downward. It seemed to me that 
the whining sound expressed rage or impatience. Perhaps 
it is the Flicker's form of swearing! Unfortunately the 
bird heard me as I was trying to start off a little way 
to get behind the next apple-tree and flew off in alarm. 
I waited for some time but she would not return. I had 
to move away for had I stayed she would certainly have 
come out of the hole with a mouthful of chips,in the 
course of a minute or two, and discovered me. The male 
Flicker was shouting about 200 yards off. 
