THE NUTHATCHES AND THE CHICKADEES 



(Families Sittidae and Paridae) 



BY A. A. ALLEN, PH.D. 



Assistant Professor of Ornithology, Cornell University. 



CLOSELY related and formerly placed in one family 

 {Paridae), the nuthatches and the chickadees are 

 associated in more than name, for after the nest- 

 ing season, they gather in loose flocks and spend the cold 

 winter months together. Seeming to enjoy their com- 

 pany, other winter birds often follow them, so that when 

 one hears the yaiik-yaiik of the nuthatch and the scolding 

 chick-a-dee-dee of the chickadee, he may look also for 

 the slender brown creeper winding its way up the bole of 

 the tree, the downy and hairy woodpeckers, the golden- 

 crowned kinglet, and often for a merry troop of tree 

 sparrows. Not only are they sociable among them- 

 selves, but for 

 mankind they 

 seem to have 

 little fear, and 

 gather about 

 suburban 

 dwellings 

 wherever food 

 is offered them 

 Except in 

 northern 

 Canada, most 

 species are 

 n n-m i g r a- 

 tory and spend 

 the winter in 

 the vicinity of 

 their summer 

 homes. If one 

 wishes to have 

 them about the 

 garden all 

 through the 

 winter, he 

 should begin 

 putting out 

 sunflower seed 

 and pieces of 

 suet, as direct- 

 ed in American Forestry, December. 1915, in Octolier 

 or November, because it is at this time that their num- 

 bers are increased by the visitors from the North, and 

 where they find an abundant food supply they are apt 

 to remain all through the winter. When one has been 

 feeding the birds for several seasons, there is ever\ 

 reason to believe that the same birds return year after 

 year to the same feeding stations, just as it is known that 

 they return to the same nesting spots. Members of the 

 American Bird Banding Association, as reported by the 

 secretary, Mr. H. H. Cleaves, have placed bands on the 

 legs of several species of birds trapped at feeding sta- 



A WINTER CHICKADEE 

 If you'd like fo have them stay with you all winter, just provide plenty of seed and suet, for snow and 

 ice hold no terrors for this winter sprite, but food must be provided. 



tions during winter, and have recaptured the same birds 

 in the same traps the following winter. The author has 

 placed bands upon the legs of chickadees and nuthatches 

 coming to his window during the winter and has had 

 the same birds nesting in the vicinity the following spring 

 and bringing their young for food to the same window 

 the following fall. 



The garden in which sunflowers have been planted 

 will do more than anything else to attract the nuthatches 

 and chickadees because both are more fond of these 

 seeds than anything else. The sunflowers can be left 

 standing or the seed can be used at the window shelf 



with equal ef- 

 fective n e s s. 

 The oils in the 

 sunflower seed 

 and the fat of 

 the suet seem 

 to take the 

 place of in- 

 sects, for both 

 birds are in- 

 s e c t i vorous, 

 and when not 

 actually at the 

 feeding shelf 

 spend their 

 time gleaning 

 about the trees 

 for hibernating 

 larvae and in- 

 sect eggs. Dur- 

 ing the sum- 

 mer they feed 

 almost a 1 1 o- 

 gether upon in- 

 sects and it is, 

 therefore, very 

 much worth 

 while to ex- 

 pend the little 

 efl^ort necessary to entice them to the home grounds. 



There are 241 species in the chickadee family, found in 

 most parts of the world except South America and the 

 Pacific Islands, but most abundant in the northern hem- 

 isphere. In North America there are but fifteen species 

 represented, extending southward into the mountains of 

 Mexico. Of these, six species are known as chickadees, 

 four as titmice, three as bush-tits, one as a wren-tiC, and 

 one as a verdin, hut all are alike in being small fluffy 

 birds with long tails and sharp, pointed bills. The 

 chickadees are dull grayish birds, lighter below, with 

 conspicuous black crowns and throat patches. The Hud- 



963 



