Reading 10 Flicker, Golden-winged Woodpecker This is one of our largest as well as noisiest Woodpeckers. When he begins to shout his monotonous information about the the rain, * all other birds may as well remain silent, for his clamor makes the welkin ring•! *Most writers render his song thus: “Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet” etc. •make the welkin ring make a very loud sound : the crew made the welkin ring with its hurrahs. ORIGIN Old English wolcen [cloud, sky] ; related to Dutch wolk and German Wolke. The Cuckoo knows the value of silence, the Flicker does not. The Flicker is a noisy aggressive bird, who publishes his whereabouts immediately upon his arrival wht a clamor equal to that of the hysterical hen announcing the new-laid egg! The Cuckoo on the contrary, is a retiring, quiet character who falteringly and smoothly announces his return to the “old stand” with due apology to those who may possibly dissapprove. The flicksr souds as if he were whistling for the dogs to drive him off, the Cuckoo sounds as if he were expostulating against such rude treatment. The Flicker’s voice resembles a monotonous fortissimo performance on the oboe, the Cuckoo’s pianissimo responds from the ocarina* *A terra-cotta instrument with a hollow rater sweet tone,, not unlike ha of an organ pipe. He is a bird of character otherwise he would never have accumulated so many labels. Mr Chapman says that are thirty-six, but a few of the most familiar ones will show the tendency of man to poke fun at him— Wake-up, Yarrup, plut, High-hole, Woodwall, Yellow-hammer, Yucker, Flicker, Hittock, Clape Harry Wicket, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . and a joker in the fullest sense when one catches sight of him bowing and scraping to the other sex in a series of bobs p and down with tail and wings stiffly outspread uttering the while a significant, you-see, you-see! Audubon testifies to the cheerful disposition of the bird, especially when in captivity, as follows: “The Golden-winged Woodpecker never suffers Its naturally lively spirits to droop. It feeds well, and by the way of amusement will continue to destroy a much furniture in a day as can well be mended by a different kind of workman in a week.” Dennis Varza Fairfield