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FEBRUARY, 1913 



grations. 



Chickadees in Winter. 



BY EDMUND J. SAWYER, ADAMS, 

 NEW YORK. 



One of the 

 mysteries of bird 

 life is that, while 

 many of the lar- 

 gest and aparently hardi- 

 est forms flee southward 

 like swallows, on the ap- 

 proach of winter, the little 

 chickadees that seem so 

 frail remain through the 

 coldest weather. The na- 

 ture of a bird's food gen- 

 - erally plays a more or less 

 important part in its mi- 

 But cold alone seems to 

 daunt even the crows, whose broken 

 ranks, beating a retreat at the first ap- 

 pearance of winter, are so characteristic 

 of the season. It is probably because 

 there are so few other birds present at 

 that time to attract one's attention that 

 the number of brave little titmice seem 

 to be augmented with the increasing- 

 severity of the weather. 



To be sure, the big and little black 

 and white woodpeckers -hairy and 

 downy — are still about; also fidgety 

 nuthatches of the white-breasted 

 species; shrinking little brown creep- 

 ers (more gray than brown), and of 

 course the ruffed grouse and an occa- 

 sional owl. But they are few in number 

 as they are in kind, and in his walks 

 through the snowy woods one usually 

 sees more chickadees than all other 

 birds combined. A flock of siskins or 

 goldfinches may be spied in some bird' 



Number 10 



gros- 



top, while crossbills and pine 

 beaks are bare possibilities. Chicka- 

 dee, however, will be on hand, never 

 fear. Even if you do not find him lie 

 will find you. 



From any clump of spruce or hem 

 lock or pine, he is apt to fly saucily 

 near, giving to his "dee-dees" a new 

 tone and vigor that bring all the chicka- 

 dees within hearing to see what he 

 has found and, having seen, to adr 

 their own "dee-dees" to the alarm, 

 while hopping among the twigs, tip- 

 ping their puffy, black-capped head* 

 for a more critical inspection. In a 

 minute or two, each having had his 

 look from front and back and both 

 sides, and the small to-do having spent 

 itself in a final protest of sharp "dee- 

 dees," away they go as if word had 

 been passed that the trouble was nut 

 worth the pains. 



~x 



It is that saucy pose, with sidewise 

 head and impudent glance, that capti- 

 vates. Clinging, back downward, at 

 die end of the twig is another of the 

 bird's frequent poses, more character- 

 istic still, but common to the siskin, 

 goldfinch, redpolls and others, includ- 

 ing many of the warblers, whose food 

 like the chickadees's. must often be 



Copyright 1913 by The Agassiz Association, Arcadia: Sound Beach. Conn. 



