Rural School Leaflet iiig 



afforded was the evergreen boughs and the dead stub of a tree brought 

 in and erected at one corner of the balcony. Do not think, therefore, 

 that your school is too unfavorably located to attract the birds. If you 

 have never tried it, you little know what pleasure is in store for you. 



THE CHICKADEE 



(For special study) 



Anna Botsford Comstock 



Of all the birds that stay with us to make cheerful our northern winter, 

 the chickadee is easily the favorite. No matter how cold or gloomy 

 the day, its cheerful song and delightful personality charm the passer-by. 

 The chickadee in winter seems friendly, and it is friendly. It devotes its 

 entire energies all winter to hunting and eating insect eggs or the insects 

 tucked away in their winter quarters ready to attack the leaves as soon 

 as they push out from their buds in the spring. It is particularly fond 

 of the cankerworm's eggs; and an experiment made by the Massachusetts 

 State Board of Agriculture demonstrated that orchards to which chick- 

 adees were enticed during the winter were almost entirely free from this 

 insect pest, while neighboring orchards were destroyed by it. 



As a winter visitant, the chickadee usually appears in company with 

 the nuthatch; and the downy woodpecker is frequently a follower of 

 this cheerful band. The nuthatches work on the trunks and larger 

 limbs of the trees, while the chickadees work industriously on the 

 twigs and buds. It is interesting to see a chickadee carefully examine 

 a twig for insect eggs. He looks it over carefully from above; then, 

 swinging over, head downward, inspects it from below. 



The chickadee is gray above; the top of the head, the nape, and the 

 throat are black; the rest of the under parts and the sides of the head 

 are grayish white. The chickadee can be easily distinguished from the 

 nuthatch by its black bib; the nuthatch has a black cap, but it is white 

 at the throat. The chickadee's beak is short and pointed, making a 

 sharp little pick exactly fitted for getting the insect eggs and cocoons 

 hidden away among the leaf buds. The woodpecker's beak is a long, 

 strong chisel, fitted for cutting a passage to the burrow of the borer in 

 the tree or to the beetle under the bark. 



One of the most charming things about the chickadee is its song. 

 Its cheerful chick-a-dee-dee has an inspiring quality, which brings 

 courage and cheer to the heart of the listener. In February, and as the 

 spring advances, the chickadee sings phcebe more distinctly than does 

 the phoebe bird and far more musically. The songs of the two birds 

 may be distinguished readily. In the phcebe note of the chickadee, the 



