8 
TWENTY-SIX COMMON BIRDS. 
Woodpecker. The same cavity is often used year after year, and 
in it six or more pure white eggs are laid in May. The young are 
fed by regurgitation, the adult thrusting its bill into the mouth of 
the young and pumping up the food in a liquid form. The cries 
of the young at this time are remarkably like the hissing of snakes. 
Two broods are often raised, so that the loud mating call, ivick- 
wick-wick , which is so characteristic of March and April, is heard 
again in July. Beside this call, the Flicker drums on a limb or 
any resonant substance, and birds when together utter a soft yucka, 
yucka. The ordinary call of the bird is a sharp ti-ou. A few 
Flickers winter in southern New England, especially near the coast. 
At this season they live on berries, being often seen on the poison 
ivy vines. In the summer and fall their chief food consists of ants, 
which they find on the ground, spearing them one after another with 
their long, sticky tongue. They eat, also, other insects which they 
find on the ground or in trees. Their flight is very characteristic : 
a stroke of the powerful wings gives the bird an upward motion ; he 
then falls, rising again after another stroke. When the bird is 
seen near by, the golden shafts under the wings are very noticea¬ 
ble, and when the bird flies away from the observer, the large white 
spot at the junction of the tail and body is a characteristic mark. 
CHIMNEY SWIFT. U 
[CHyETURA pelagica.] 
This curious bird, resembling the Swallows in so many ways, 
differs essentially from them in structure and is classed by natural¬ 
ists in another family. Before the construction of chimneys the 
Swift built in hollow trees; in remote parts of the country some 
still retain this habit. The nest is built of dead twigs which the 
bird seizes while flying, and glues together by means of its saliva. 
On this platform are laid from four to five pure white eggs. The 
twittering of the young and their unfortunate appearance at the 
wrong end of the chimney, are recollections of most country-bred 
children. After leaving the nests, the Swifts spend the greater 
