CHICADEEj OR BLACK-CAPT TITMOUSE. 243 



the snow-bank beneath and quench their thirst by swal- 

 lowing small pieces ; in this way, their various and frugal 

 meal is always easily supplied ; and hardy, and warmly 

 clad in light and very downy feathers, they suffer little 

 inconvenience from the inclemency of the seasons. In- 

 deed in the winter, or about the close of October, they 

 at times appear so enlivened as already to show their 

 amorous attachment, like our domestic cock, the male 

 approaching his mate with fluttering and vibrating wings ; 

 and in the spring season, the males have obstinate en- 

 gagements, darting after each other with great velocity 

 and anger. Their roost, I suspect, is in the hollows of de- 

 cayed trees, where they also breed, laying their eggs 

 merely in the dry rotten wood, without any attempt at a 

 nest;* these are from 6 to 12 in number, white, with 

 specks of brown-red. They begin to lay about the mid- 

 dle or close of April, and though they commonly make 

 use of natural or deserted holes of the Woodpecker, yet 

 at times, they are raid to excavate a cavity for them- 

 selves with much labor. The first brood take wing 

 about the 7th or 10th of June, and they have sometimes 

 a second towards the end of July. The young, as soon 

 as fledged, have all the external marks of the adult, the 

 head is equally black, and they chatter and skip about, 

 with all the agility and self-possession of their parents, 

 who appear nevertheless very solicitous for their safety. 

 From this time the whole family continue to associate to- 

 gether through the autumn and winter. They seem to 

 move by concert from tree to tree, keeping up a contin- 

 ued ' tslie-de-de-de-de , and Hshe-dc-de-de-dait , preceded by 

 a shrill whistle, all the while busily engaged, picking 



* In Europe, however, this kind, if the same species, as asserted by Temminck, is 

 said to dig out an excavation in decayed willows, in which it makes a nest of moss, 

 thistle down, and sometimes a little wool and feathers. 



