Page:Bird-lore Vol 08.djvu/201

 spread her wings and Utter a "whe-e-e-e-ee." This call, which was its, loudest al its middle point, rose and then fell to the same pitch at which it was begun. This love making greatly resembles that of Flickers, which most people who are interested in birds must surely have seen.

The parents, when feeding their young, usually alighted within a space of three feel below the hole, and never directly at its entrance They would pause here for a moment as though fearing they were observed by someone. Then they would hop up to the hole and look in, anywhere from two up to six times, as if accustoming their eyes to the darkness Once in a while grubs could be seen in their bills, but, from the actions of the birds when feeding their young, they appeared to be regurgitating During twenty four hours the female fed the young thirty times, and the male twenty-nine times.

As it grew dusk, the young gradually grew guieter, and their little "peep-peep peep" greatly resembled those of chicks when crawling beneath their mother's wings. From two o'clock in the afternoon till seven clock that evening; two minutes was the longest period during which the young did not utter a single "peep." From seven cm. until two minutes after four the next morning, the young bird) ceased this continuous chattering. The mother was the last to feed them at night, the time being seventeen minutes after seven; but the male was up first in the morning. At four fifteen in the morning, the young uttered a few sleepy "peep" and the male alighted three feet below the hole at four sixteen. The young birds beard him alight and immediately commenced to chatter. The male hopped up to the hole, looked in twice, and then fed them, The young birds bills were seen, indicating that they were very hungry, and were banging on to the inner wall of the nest near the entrance. Soon after this their hunger was appeased their bills were seen no more, and the parents dad to go almost into the hole to feed them.

The parents slept al some distance from the tree, presumably in separate holes, as we found a Hairy Woodpecker's and also an American Three toed Woodpecker's sleeping hole, where single birds wen observed to retire. These sleeping holes were occupied by males, and it is quite safe to say that the male and female sleep in different trees.

In the course of the morning, two Red breasted Nuthatches tormented the Woodpecekrs for fifteen minutes. Before venturing near the dole, the Nuthatces put their bills together. Perhaps they were bidding each other their last good=byes in case one or both of them should meet death in their encounter with then larger adversaries. They hovered around the hole with drooping wings, holding their tails up like Wrens. One of them finally ventured into the hole so far that just his tail was protruding. They would fly away when the parents approached the hole but would return as soon as the nest was unrotected. After some time the male Woodpecker went